


Journey On The Argo II

by knifelady



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Argo II (Percy Jackson), F/M, percabeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 48,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23630206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifelady/pseuds/knifelady
Summary: Percy and Annabeth have just returned from Tartarus and they both are struggling with being out and about on the Argo II. With the seven only a week away from facing Gaia in Athens, Gaia will do anything to slow them down. The seven are faced with their worst memories and secrets will be revealed as they journey through Epiales' sacred rooms.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso & Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Comments: 37
Kudos: 332





	1. Annabeth I

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my second official fanfiction, my first being "The Daughter Of The Prophecy" on Wattpad so if you're another PJO fan you can read my story.
> 
> This is a "trying to be canon fanfic" because it tries to stick close to the books but there are some added bits and stuff. Also, closer to the end of the story, I'm gonna be writing a sort of Dark!Percy.
> 
> I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS.
> 
> Plz don't be rude and in the comments don't be a grammar nazi.
> 
> Thx again and enjoy!<3

Annabeth POV:

A sudden bang startled Annabeth out of her abysmal nightmare. Her cheeks were wet and her body was bathed in a cold sweat. The sheets were twisted around her limbs, probably because she was thrashing in her sleep. Her heart pounded against her chest. Annabeth trembled. The room was entirely dark. No light anywhere except for the outline of her door. The remnants of her nightmare still clung to her mind, haunting her. Annabeth had no trouble imagining monsters lurking in the murky darkness of her room. Another flash of Tartarus flashed in her mind. Annabeth let out a frightened cry and buried her face into her pillow. Even her breaths trembled. She swallowed and once again turned to see the endless darkness of her room. She couldn't see anything.

Her nightmare was of Tartarus of course. What else could it be? She and Percy had only returned from there a week or so ago. After spending the first day or so in the infirmary, their injuries were almost all healed. Of course, it wasn't the physical injuries that were the most painful.

Annabeth shuddered, a rush of cold trickled up her spine. She wanted to go to Percy's cabin to see if he's awake, he could always calm her down when she's like this. Percy...oh gods. He wasn't coping well, Annabeth thought. I should let him sleep and not bother him.

She hid her face under her bed covers and at least attempted to get rid of the memories floating in her head. Her nightmare was of Percy, that's what scared her the most.

He stood over Achlys with a dark look in his eyes as she struggled to regain control over her poison. As Annabeth watched Percy drown the Goddess of Misery in her own tears, her heart broke into a million pieces. She watched the dorky, quirky boy she fell in love turn rotten, just like Luke - into a monster. She begged Percy to stop and that some things aren't meant to be controlled but instead of stopping, he slowly turned his head around to face her. His eyes were no longer a beautiful sea green or even an evil dark emerald, but they were a bright gold, like Kronos. Percy raised his hand and Annabeth felt her breath freeze, pain shooting up her body. Why would he do this? Why? He walked towards her, a malice grin plastered across his once handsome face, and stabbed out his sword.

Annabeth shed a single tear, no matter how hard she tried to hold it in. He would never do that. He was Percy, the saviour of Olympus. She couldn't control what she did next, it was as if her legs had grown a mind of their own. She climbed out of bed, fixed her old camp half Blood t-shirt she had been using as PJs and walked towards her cabin door. She stuck her head out of the hallway, blonde curls falling down as she twisted her head to look down the corridor. Fearing that Buford would start shouting at her for being out of bed during lights out, Annabeth rushed to the door down the end of the hall - Percy's door. Her feet made a squeaking sound as she walked across the polished wood of Argo II, her heart beating just a few beats faster than usual. She turned the door handle and climbed into the bed of the sleeping demigod.

She stared, in a totally not creepy way, at his sleeping face - his silky, black hair being blown up and down by his shallow breaths. Without meaning to, she pressed her lips against his - just to feel the rush of being with him again. Annabeth felt a small smile grace his face as she pressed just a bit harder. His green eyes shot open and he reached for his sword in a panic.

"A-Annabeth?" he stuttered. "What are you doing in here?"

She turned her head to face him and replied: "couldn't sleep."

"O-okay...Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a nightmare."

"Wanna come closer?" Percy grinned, opening his arms for a hug.

"Just shut up, Seaweed Brain." she murmured with a small smile as she shuffled closer to him and pressed her back against his chest.

A few minutes passed when she spoke up again, "I love you."

A couple of sleepy grunts were heard behind her while they both fell in a peaceful sleep.

The egg yolk sun poured through the cracks in the curtains and awaited entrance into Annabeth's eyes. Sight still in the clutches of the night's glue, she hesitantly rubbed her eyes. She quickly jolted up, nearly hitting her head on the bunk. Percy also woke up because of her jerky movements, yawning and scratching his neck sleepily.

"Did I sleep in here? Oh, gods. I'm so s-"

"Annabeth chill out."

Annabeth huffed a strand of blonde hair out of her face.

Percy let out a throaty chuckle, "We should get to breakfast. Don't want anyone thinking we...um...did things."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Seaweed Brain trying to be punctual? It really is the end of the world."

She got a pillow to her face for that.

Percy jumped up from the bed and reached out his hand for her to take. He gave her a bright smile and Annabeth hauled herself up. There was something so sweet about his smile, genuinely happy. Her and Percy held hands and walked into the kitchen. The rest of the seven were eating breakfast around the table, none of them sparing a glance that way. Whether it was because they didn't care or whether they knew they spent the night together and decided not to mention it.

"Sleep well, guys?" Leo grinned, breaking the silence of the room.

Percy smirked and rolled his eyes, "shut up, Valdez"

Percy and Annabeth sat down next to each other, filling their plates with pancakes - blue for Percy.

"How was watch last night?" Annabeth asked Piper, once again filling the room with conversation. "Anything worth noting?"

"Only some venti attacks and even then Jason got rid of them quickly" sending a quick glance to Jason.

He hadn't been in the greatest spot after being stabbed by Michael Varus on Ithaca. Annabeth didn't want to show it, but when he was injured, Annabeth was very close to a panic attack. She had found herself getting more riled up by the smallest things - understandable but that doesn't mean she likes it.

"I barely did anything! Pipes you're the one who distracted them."

"You're kidding! I trie-"

"Yeah! Yeah, we get it, okay guys!" Leo exclaimed.

After that, the demigods eased themselves into their own conversations. Jason, Frank and Percy arguing over something archery related, Piper and Leo having a heated discussion about probably something stupid.

"You're alright, right Annabeth?" Hazel turned to face Annabeth, her bright golden eyes boring into Annabeth.

She paused for a second. "I had a bad one last night" Annabeth sighed. "Nothing Percy couldn't help me with."

"If you ever need to talk, I'm here. We're all here for you."

Annabeth nodded her way before digging back into her pancakes. It's not that she didn't appreciate her friends' support. It's just that sometimes they treat her and Percy like mentally unstable patients who will explode with the slightest problem. This was apparent right after they got back. There are times her head just didn't work, whether she liked it or not. Annabeth tried so hard to focus and it's like trying to run through water. Her brain fogged up with memories of...down there and thoughts go nowhere at all. Sometimes Annabeth thinks it's nature's anaesthesia, anything to numb the pain, to wipe out the trauma. Then there are the times of clarity, sudden moments when she can see every detail and feel every feeling, similar to her ADHD. Annabeth hates to say it but the triggers can be something like Festus's clicking language or Frank's notching of an arrow or the smell of Leo's morning coffee. She doesn't even know why these things hurt her and Percy. It's unfair. Percy seems to have more nighttime panics than her, numb in the day and broken in the night. Whilst she has panics in the day, less powerful attacks at night.

Percy's laughing brings her back. Her gaze focuses on his eyes crinkling up and his arms clutching his belly. Her own happiness swells inside her, briefly allowing her to relax.

Then suddenly the ship lurched to a halt, the seven quickly abandoned their breakfast.

"Everyone get their armour on and meet on the deck." Shouted Percy. He had really stepped up as leader after he and Annabeth got back, Jason willingly stepping down. It occurred to Annabeth how much the crew had changed whilst they were gone. Piper was much more confident, Leo more mature, Hazel's mist manipulation, Jason's abundance of leadership with Frank really stepping up to fill that role. Getting that out of her mind, she ran to her cabin to get her drakon bone sword and suit up. Climbing onto the deck; the wind whipped her hair around. The sea raged much like Kymopoleia's sea storm. The waves were so large that the Argo II was dwarfed, riding up and down the mighty swelling sea like a child's toy. The air was thick with a briny mist, the deck awash with salty waves.

"Percy! Jason!" she screamed, she could hardly see them even though they were standing only a few metres away. "Try and control the storm."

"Uhhhh. Annabeth, we have a bigger problem here!" Frank yelled.

A giant sea serpent rose from the waves. Her scales gleamed in the slowly disappearing sunlight. Violet streaks were shot through them brighter than the sun or so she claimed. Black attached itself to both sides of the violet. With teeth as sharp and cold as icicles they could rip through the seven's leather armour. She thought absently just for defence.

"Jason, Percy, try to work on the storm, everyone else, work on the chinks in her scales" and with that, Annabeth gave a yell and ran at the monster.


	2. Percy II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is still sort of a prologue but the story is starting for real in the next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for updating so late but from now on I'll try to update every 2 weeks or so. 
> 
> Please enjoy! xxx

Percy POV: Chapter 2

Percy knew immediately that this wasn’t a normal storm. Not as strong as Kymopoleia but enough to knock the wind out of him when he tried to stop it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jason clenching his fists trying to quell the wind. Percy, knowing that it was his best bet, shut his eyes and tried to calm the waves that soared above their heads like skyscrapers. Disconnecting himself from the rest of the seven who were viciously fighting what looks like a giant snake. His mind seemed to be stretched out, intense pressure at the front of his skull as he tried to tap into that deep sinking feeling in his stomach. It was tearing Percy up slowly, his nails digging into his palms drawing blood. It was like a tug of war. Whatever was on the other end of the storm wasn’t letting up. But Percy didn’t crawl out of literal hell to be told, ‘oh yeah. Your friends can all go and drown a couple weeks before the worlds supposed to end.’ Part of Percy felt like he was already drowning. He just wanted to go home with his mom and girlfriend and sit out the next couple wars. He was drowning in expectations but also in other people’s looks. It wasn’t like Percy to be self-conscious or angry at his friends. At the enemy? Yes. At the gods? Maybe. At his friends? Hades no. But every time he walked into a room, people gave him the side-eye as if he would just start screaming for no reason. Or even worse, the looks of pity. He hates pity. He doesn’t need anyone babying him for no reason, well other than the obvious one. And it’s not like he’s done anything to scare them. Yet. He knew he sacred Annabeth. He hated himself, he really did. He saw the way she would look at him after using any sort of power as if he would start choking people with their own bodily fluids. Focus, Percy. Grinding his teeth together, Percy forgot all about staying dry and focused all of his energy into stopping the waves. Determination riddled his bones and flooded from his pores as he let out grunts of effort. He didn’t know how Jason was doing but the wind seemed to be just as harsh as before, if not, even more so than before. After a few minutes, or seconds (Percy didn’t really know) he felt a tap on his shoulder, completely throwing him off. His face was red with barely suppressed ferocity, and when Jason set a finger on her shoulder, he swung around and wanted so badly to snap at him.

“Percy! I can’t control it!” Jason shouted into his ear, water slapping both of them like a whip. “Let’s help the others out, we’ll hopefully get past it!”  
He didn’t know what happened. Maybe it was all the pent up emotions he was carrying with him since Tartarus or maybe it was just a weird burst of adrenaline. Sea green eyes turned to bore into electric blue. Pure willpower coursed through Percy is frankly terrifying quantities.   
“You go! I can do this!”   
“Percy, don’t do anything stupid! You could hurt yourself!”   
Percy felt a familiar spark of anger in his chest. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but a scary type of fury was quickly directed towards Jason.   
“We’re getting nowhere! Just leave me to do it!” Percy groaned, thick eyebrows furrowing together. He didn’t want to argue but if Jason didn’t listen, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hold back.   
Sensing Percy’s agitation, Jason wisely stepped back; face now slightly obscured by the sea sprays.   
Jason hesitated before speaking again, “be--be careful”  
Percy swallowed his anger that bubbled at the back of his throat, willing himself to not say anything unnecessarily petty. 

He turned back to face the open ocean; a man on a mission, fierceness laced across his handsome features. White knuckles from clenching his fist too hard, and gritted teeth from the effort to pull the power of the sea back. His back straightened with an animosity that was like acid - burning, slicing, potent. He was no longer the laid back Percy, this was the man monsters feared. This is my birthright. He thought. I am the son of Poseidon, God of the sea and I control the waves. Someone seemed to be laughing at him, the sounds bouncing off the walls of his mind. Percy thought he blew a circuit from all the mentally and physically exerting power he was producing, the maniacal laughter making him feel like he was watching an episode of Batman with Joker. Although Percy couldn’t control the wind, even the wind slackened for a moment as if unwilling to blow at him without his permission. Slowly but surely, whatever was the cause of this storm was weakening. Their grasp on the ocean loosening as Percy gained his footing and stretched his arms out. Knowing he was close to victory, Percy took a deep breath in, closed his eyes and pulled for his life. As if time stopped, the Argo II stopped moving. The giant, formerly violent waves froze in position. The demigods, even the sea serpent, turned to look at him. Was that fear or awe? Percy couldn’t tell. His mind was ripping apart the longer he held on. Like a rubber band, the deity that caused the storm to let go and disappeared. Percy let out a guttural scream and spread out his arms. The dark clouds above saw no reason to dwindle, quickly moving away and dispersing leaving streams of sunlight to come down upon the ship. The waves were no longer choppy. They rolled in; long and white fringed. They were playful, not rough like they were a minute ago. 

The serpent seemed to snap out of it quickly, razor-sharp mouth snapping at Piper who only barely got out of harms way. Although Percy knew that stopping the storm was an achievement on its own but as he collapsed to the deck, he couldn’t help but feel like he should be helping more. He laid his head against the wood of the side, sweat plastering his black hair to his forehead as he took gasping breaths. If he and many of his friends weren’t in imminent danger, this would be a pretty cool film. From where Percy was clutching his sides and panting, he had a pretty good view of everyone fighting the beast. Piper was bouncing around shouting charm speak at the creature, things like “look behind you!” or “hit yourself”. Unfortunately for Piper, it seemed that the sea serpent could easily tune out her magic. Annabeth was darting underneath the monster, Hazel and Frank close on her heels as they were all using their assorted skills and weapons to cut under the scales. Jason was crouching beside a crumpled Leo. Occasionally electricity shot from Jason if the monster came too close. Jason seemed to be looking at him with worry. It only occurred to Percy now that he should probably do something to help despite his aching limbs. He really wanted to shout ‘my brain is on 1 per cent battery, so if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna take some time to rest and soak in the calm peace of the sea.’ then promptly jump over the side. Only, thinking about it now, Annabeth wouldn’t find it too funny.

Standing up, (certain limbs shouting at him for being an idiot) Percy grabbed riptide from his pocket and stepped forward. The first few steps Percy felt like laughing. He felt a bit like Bambi when he first learned to walk. But, knowing that laughing would probably piss Annabeth off at this moment in time, he decided to swallow it. He continued forward, ankles only rolling a couple of times, and Annabeth’s grey eyes caught his. He knew that expression like he knew the back of his hand. She pointed to the back of the serpent and made a jump motion. It was pretty clear what Percy was being asked to do but that doesn’t mean he had to like it. After looking in the direction of the finger he turned to her with a grin on his face. Rolling her eyes she shouted at Hazel, Frank and Piper to join her in front of the monster. Percy crept sideways as the monster’s attention was focused on the 4 delicious demigods directly in front of him.   
Annabeth’s eye followed him as he summoned water to spiral upwards towards the back of the serpents head, like a ribbon made of water. Bouncing on the balls of his feet a couple times before he broke into a sprint. 

Percy lept into the spiral water like a skydiver, feeling revigorated as soon as he touched the liquid. Percy became a firework the moment he touched the water, energy multiplying throughout his body. Directing the water towards the serpents head, when he got close enough he forced currents to push him out of the water like he was a demigod cannonball. The world was in slow motion as Riptide elongated into a sword and was shoved into the snake-like eye of the beast. Percy had to admit it was quite creepy when the pupil shifted to stare at him when he pierced it like an olive on a toothpick. Percy’s weight and momentum on riptide caused the sword to quickly cut a deep slit down the side of the monster’s face, sort of feeling like he was ziplining. The wind in his face made Percy feel exhilarated when he fell, blowing the water away from his face and drying his clothes off. His body twirled and jerked as he fell to the deck. Admittedly the fall wouldn’t be nearly as hard as some of his other ones, but still, when he landed, his knees didn’t absorb the force too well.   
“Watch out!”   
Percy didn’t register what the voice called until he was knocked backwards.   
“Percy!”  
The rest of the seven, aside from Leo, crowded around him from where he was lying down. Their worried faces each more sweaty than the next. He vaguely registered the sea serpent exploding into golden dust but it wasn’t exactly hard to miss when it was all over his face and body. Frank reached out his arm to help him up. When Percy was fully upright once again, his head throbbed. The pain felt like someone had taken a knife to his skull. Squeezing his eyes shut, he willed the pain to go away. He could barely hear the people chattering around him. All he felt, all he knew was the pain of that moment.   
“Well done, demigods!” Shouted a voice from above, aggravatingly crude sounding. “I have to say I’m impressed.”  
Oh for Gods’ sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ!
> 
> THANK YOU cold_corndog, kingfishling, TheGhostKing44, Pixellite, Something_1987, Saallyi SO MUCH FOR LEAVING ME KUDOS! It really made my day!


	3. Piper III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing really happens :D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for the reviews and kudos, it really made my day. I'm really trying to do a chapter a week and sooooo without further adieu...the new chapter.

Piper POV: Chapter 3

A man was leaning against the mast, above the seven’s heads and Piper was reminded of Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians. Wisps of darkness spread out from under the man’s feet, black toga glistening in the sunlight. Piper felt Annabeth tense next to her, maybe she knew him from Tartarus. Piper didn’t know. Those two didn’t exactly tell any of them what happened down there. Only the shrill screams of their first few nights reminded the rest of the seven what Percy and Annabeth had been through. Personally, Piper thought they were doing okay. Well, sure, Percy seemed to silently brood a bit more and Annabeth had more defined eye bags and Percy killed monsters with more ruthlessness and Annabeth had a panic attack in the Temple of Fear and...okay. Maybe they weren’t too great. But they were alive. And that’s all that matters.

Piper stopped herself from zoning out again as the man disappeared behind the mast; only to reappear in the shadows behind where Leo was propped up, hands clutching his bleeding side and hair plastered to his forehead. The man, who she could only assume was a god at this point, sneered at Leo. He had that sort of aura that only gods had or very strong demigods for that matter, and so Piper knew immediately they were dealing with a minor god. Was he on Gaia’s side? She had no clue. The man walked towards Leo, crouching so he was eye level. It was as silent among the demigods. His big boots made a rhythmical noise against the wood of the deck, stumbling slightly sometimes making him seem like he had all the time in the world. His face, quite handsome, was stern, yet upbeat. Smooth fingers reached out for Leo’s forehead and a dark glow was emitted from his tips. Leo made a small grunt as the rest sucked in a breath only feet away.

“Look, man, we get it. You’re working for Gaia. But if you couldn’t curse our crew, that would be great.” Addressed Percy. His dark eyebrows were furrowed and his expression was incredibly hard to read.  
“Do you not want your friend healed?” The god turned, pure black eyes stared at Percy. “That thing had quite a nasty swing at the kid.”  
Jason stepped out and rubbed the bridge of his nose, almost condescendingly. “We just want you to leave our ship.”  
“No can do, pal. I’m on strict orders and I need you all alive for what’s about to happen.”  
Piper saw both Annabeth and Percy’s eyes glint dangerously. Percy clenched his fist, fingernails probably digging into his skin if Annabeth didn’t take his hand in hers. Hazel subtly brought her sword back out of her sheath while shuffling her feet, ready for an attack. The dread crept over Piper like an icy chill, numbing her brain. The god said they wouldn't get hurt but knowing some of their twisted ways, what was waiting for them could be much worse. In the frozen state, Piper was in, she only had one clear thought. Styx.

The god turned back to Leo and continued healing him, tendrils of darkness creeping past his fingers into Leo’s wound. Only seconds past before his muscular upper-body stretched backwards and then suddenly sprung up. The waves broke the eerie mood as they were lashing the side of the ship. Either the storm was back or Percy was pissed.

“So...I guess introductions are needed.” His face broke into a teenager like smirk, sort of unsettling seeing as this man is probably thousands of years old. He stretched out his arms in a carefree manner like he was a 16-year-old who is showing off his new car to his friends. “Who am I?”  
Leo got up, stumbling only slightly and paced towards Frank’s side. His face was no longer pale and gaunt, a seemingly healthy glow lit up his features. At least one good thing came from the god’s presence.  
“Oh, come on Athena spawn. You must know who I am. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!” His irritating smirk once again gracing his face; similar to Percy’s troublemaker smile. “Though I suppose being in Tartarus can mess with your head a bit.”  
Everyone on the Argo II knew Tartarus was a sore spot for both of them so having an intruder barging in and bringing it up was less than appreciated.  
“Look…” Annabeth hesitated. It was a rare instance that Annabeth didn’t know of the mythological thing she was talking to. “If you know what's good for you, I’d suggest leaving now.”  
The man didn’t seem threatened at all which irked Piper a bit. Known gods like Dionysus were uneasy when Annabeth’s famous glare was pointed at them.

“Well, I know you guys quite well. Don’t think I didn’t do my research.” He turned towards Jason who was the furthest right, eyes glinting maniacally and pale hands dug into his black pockets.  
“Son of Jupiter and somehow the weakest of all.” Jason ground his teeth.  
“Daughter of Aphrodite who doesn’t like makeup. Wow. You’re so cool. You’re not like other girls!” The god flicked his dark hair out of his eyes in a sassy manner, annoying the life out of Piper. But even those few words seemed to chip away at Piper’s mind.  
“Demigod son of Poseidon.” The god turned and stared head-on at Percy. “But let’s face it, you’re more monster than demigod these days. Don’t think we all don’t know about Akhlys. Quite entertaining to watch the Hero of Olympus break.” Something about Percy in that moment unnerved her. It was like he was possessed by an eidolon as his usually kind features morphed into something collected and cruel. Piper will never admit this to anyone but something about Annabeth and Percy just seemed off. Understandable but undeniable. It was another one of those moments where Piper was sure Percy would surge forward and snap the man’s neck then effortlessly toss his body over the side of the Argo without a thought. But Piper knew Percy. He visibly clenched his jaw and bit back a retort, probably something along the lines of “go to Hades.”  
“Daughter of Athena, nothing more than a sidekick to the Hero of Olympus and his goat pal.” Every time he opened his mouth, Piper got angrier. She knew it was the same for Annabeth as Percy has to physically pull her wrist back. The god seemed terribly proud of himself, eye darting to each of the demigods to watch their anger-filled reactions. If Piper didn’t know any better, she’d think that the mystery man was Koalemos, god of annoyance.   
"Daughter of Pluto. Soon you’ll be wishing you had just stayed dead." Piper continued to swallow her replies and just wait, glare and wait. This had to be over soon.  
“Mars’ disappointment. Ever wondered why he only claimed you, what was it, a month ago?” Piper felt overwhelming sympathy for Frank. Demigods were already sensitive about not being claimed as early on as they should have and yet Piper never had to deal with that.  
Finally, he turned to Leo. In one word to describe this man; asshole. It summed him up completely to his cocky voice, mischievous actions and hurtful words.  
“Annnnnnd the son of Hephaestus.” The god paused as if he needed to think of something to say. Piper wanted to shout “aha!” and roast him back but her resolve melted away as quickly as it came. “Nothing special. In fact, you’re nothing at all.”

All that rage came out faster than magma and just as destructive. The rest of the seven seemed to feel just the same. They all reached out for their weapons and powers, fuelled by pure emotion. The waves were choppy and violent, the wind howled, Piper felt some heat to the left of her which could only mean Leo lit himself on fire again. They were all ready for a fight.

That was until the man thrust out his arms. Piper immediately felt like she was being stretched, feet not finding any ground. She couldn’t hear the screams she was making as she travelled through the darkness. Every few seconds she would scream, not like one of those guys in some horror movie being tortured, but worse. It had a raw quality, the realness of a person consumed by a pain that knew no end or limit. Piper couldn’t even comprehend what she was feeling. Overwhelming nausea grew in her throat. But just as she felt like she would vomit her own intestines out, it stopped. The world around her was only open ocean. She - along with the rest of the seven - were scattered on a pitiful mound of sand that would barely be considered an island. Piper lay on the ground, her face closed in a grimace, her skin pale and clammy. She heard the others, aside from Percy, Annabeth and Hazel, groan.

“Aren’t you all happy!” Cried the man again. “I must admit, you three handled that best. But it’s not like you’ve never shadow travelled before, I suppose.” Pointing at the three standing demigods.  
“Yeah, a son of hades and a trained hellhound can prepare you for this sort of travelling,” Percy replied, voice thick with anger. Piper sometimes wondered if Percy purposely wanted to anger a god or if he just had no self-control.

There was a silence until Annabeth spoke up. “You’re Epiales. God of nightmares. You---you talked to me in my sleep. Back---back in Tartarus.”  
“The daughter of Athena finally proves her worth. I knew I kept you along for a reason.” Epiales smirked at the group as if expecting a round of applause.  
“And let me guess,” Percy muttered as he leaned against a palm tree, still looking slightly sick. “You’re working for Gaia because you feel unappreciated and ignored by the gods. So you’re here to kidnap us and yada yada yada.”  
“Nope,” Epiales replied, toothily grinning. “I’m here to cause some chaos.” He started pacing on the beach as the Demigods’ eyes followed him dangerously. Slowly they all started picking themselves up and facing the god. “Although, I can’t lie. I am working for Gaia. Just some rubbish about tearing them apart from the inside and all that crap. Again, I can’t lie. You are all some of the strongest demigods and so, if you really tried, you could probably beat me.” He pointed at Percy with a lazy finger and eyed the rest of the demigods. “And I guess if you have that one, you could make your chances higher. But, like I said, I don’t want to physically harm you. Gaia needs you; whether she wants to admit it or not. Sooooo, all you need to do is find my temple and meet me at the end. That sound okay to you?”  
Leo spoke up after a beat of silence. “We don’t need to do anything. Believe it or not, we’re on a quest and we don’t have time for games.”

Two thoughts rushed through Piper’s head. One: it was literally last night when they all played monopoly in the break room. Two: you just had to ask. Everyone seemed to take in a breath and give Leo their best stink eye.  
“I’m so glad you said that!” Epiales waved his hands and black beams shot out at each of the seven. “Taking a suggestion from Percy here; you all cursed to never sleep again.” He said it in such a casual way, it freaked Piper out more than the prospect of never sleeping again.  
“What?!”  
“Oh, Hades.”  
“You’re kidding me!”  
An assortment of words were exchanged, each demigod looked more panicked than the last.  
“You see, I am the daemon of nightmares. I work for not only Gaia but Morpheus and Hypnos, so don’t think I can't ruin your lives with a wave of my hand.” He then turned to Hazel, his smile gone from his face. “Only you can find my temple. Let your instincts guide you, Child of Pluto.”

Then, his body seemed to burn away, skin melting from his bones and toga disintegrating into thin air. He liquefied into a pulsing, black...thing. Two red eyes gleaming from what once was where his face was. Piper immediately felt terror pierce her heart, it was as if she were back in the temple of fear. It was straight out of a nightmare. Piper then felt weightless once again and her body was pulled apart. Her heartbeat slammed in her ears and her throat constricted, seizing up her body. It felt like hours by the time she felt her body finally lying on the wooden deck of the Argo II.

Piper later sat at the ship table, the members of the seven all finding their places. A tense silence enveloped the room. A lump was buried in her throat as she sat with her hands clasped together under the table. Piper saw Hazel’s lip wobble as if she would burst into tears. Frank and Percy’s legs were jogging up and down with worry whilst Annabeth and Jason sat stone-faced and still. Leo looked down, refusing to meet any of their eyes. Piper reached out her hand, still shaking slightly, and held on to Leo, forcing him to look at her.  
“This is not your fault.” She said, breaking the silence. “This is no one’s fault.”  
Frank suddenly spoke loudly and clearly, seemingly making his mind up about something. “We need to find Epiales’ temple. Hazel,” he turned to his girlfriend. “We’ll spend tonight finding the location with your help. It can’t be that hard. He needed us to find it and get there safely.”  
“The curse won’t kill us either,” Annabeth said. “He doesn’t want us dead and I did some research. Sleeping curses are like the ones in the fields of punishment. Like with Tantalus. We’ll try to sleep but something will stop us; it won’t kill us. It’ll just….drive us mad.”  
“Lovely…” Leo muttered, earning a slap round the head from Jason.  
“Then let’s get to work.” Hazel stood up, chair legs scraping on the floor. “We’ll go to this temple, find him at the end and get to Athens no problem.”  
Jason grimaced briefly before speaking. “And what if he isn’t there? What will we do then?”  
Piper looked into his electric blue eyes, determination rushing through her veins. “He will be.” She looked at everyone else, making eye contact with everyone, maybe even using a touch of charm speak to help lift the spirits. “Then we’ll kick his sorry ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to EVERYONE who left comments! I'll be back next week!


	4. Frank IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically my babies Frank and Hazel are stressed.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! I hope you like this chapter, it was really hard to think about what to write about. I can fully say that the next chapter is when the action starts!
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos! Thank you so much for all the people who have already left comments! I love you all xxx

Frank POV: Chapter 4

The seven were all exhausted. It had been days, each time Hazel seemed to be less and less sure of where to go. It seemed Gaia knew they were all dead on their feet as monster after monster had been attacking the Argo II, each time the demigods found themselves struggling to kill even the weakest monster. Frank perched on the side of the ship, legs dangling over the ocean underneath them. He drifted in and out of consciousness. If any of them managed to actually sleep, their skin would immediately explode into painful scratches as if a harpy was attacking. The world around him was a blur, and random images seemed to float aimlessly around in the pool of his thoughts, as though they were being blown about viciously by a hurricane. A tap on Frank’s shoulder momentarily brought him back to the outside world. The whole world simply felt low resolution, a bad quality movie, to Frank. Confusion blossomed in Frank’s heart as he knew that sooner or later he would need to stand. But his limbs felt like they were filled with lead. Frank knew he should stare reality in the face; they weren’t going to get relief unless they get the job done.

“Frank, man, we have a meeting in the break room.”  
Frank turned to face the pale face of the son of Jupiter. He had heavy bags under his eyes as if someone had punched them in. His cheekbones were protruding from his face in a skeletal kind of way. All in all, he didn’t look too good. But, Frank thought, we all probably look the same.  
“Yep, yep,” Frank replied, stretching his arms over his head, revelling in the satisfying cracks he heard in his joints.  
Jason stretched his hand out for Frank to haul himself up. Sending him a grateful look, Frank brought himself up to his full height. They both walked towards the doors that lead to the breakroom, feet dragging behind them as overwhelming exhaustion overwhelms them. Frank can’t remember the last time he felt this tired. Sure, there was the time on his quest to Alaska but he did get at least some sleep. Now that thinks about it, the last time he felt this bad was the weeks following his mother’s funeral. The ache continues to build in his legs as he strains to stumble to the doors. It continues in dull pangs as if some monster has taken it upon itself to hit him hard with a spoon repeatedly, only applying enough pressure to be an annoyance. But over the last few days, the constant annoyance is more painful than being stabbed by a gladius. Frank imagined if he was lying on a million rocks, with rocks lying on top him too, it would feel a whole like he did now; not to the point of death but enough to wish he could just get knocked out for some alleviation.

Suddenly, Frank could dimly note that he was soaking wet. Jason too. It was a perfect shock to his system, freezing cold water made him feel like he was electrocuted. It was more than just a slight tingle that ran underneath his skin as Frank woke up more. He didn’t know whether to curse or thank whatever got him wet.  
“Sorry!” yelled Percy as he climbed out of the ocean. “I can dry you guys off if you want.”  
Frank cringed as Jason’s nostrils flared. The lack of sleep made everyone more on edge. “Could you? Thanks, man”  
“Jeez, my bad. It’s getting harder to control my powers, you know?” Percy replied, waving his hand and immediately drying both Frank and Jason off.  
“No problem, man. I find myself turning into a french bulldog if I’m about to nod off.”  
Jason interrupted, “we need to get to the meeting. Everyone’s down there now.”  
“Right, sorry.”  
Frank and Percy followed Jason through the doors and into the break room, immediately regretting coming. The room was in chaos as certain demigods decided to cope with the lack of sleep in different ways. Leo opted for mass amounts of sugar, bouncing around, smiling way too much for the sombre room. The girls have been ingesting gallons of pure, black coffee every few hours to keep themselves awake. It actually amazed Frank how much they drink, probably enough to water the whole of California. Percy seemed to have it easy, spending most of his time in the ocean; filling him with the needed energy. All things considered, Percy seemed to be the most functioning of the seven. Frank found himself frequently changing into a Bullfrog. After a quick study session with Annabeth, they both found out that bullfrogs don’t need sleep and, technically, they do not go into a state that fits the definition of sleep. So Frank was managing by the scape of his teeth. Jason has been regularly shocking himself and others with small bolts of lightning to keep himself awake. From what Frank has seen, it doesn’t seem to work for more than 10 minutes.

“Now that we’re all here.” Annabeth cast a dirty glare at Frank, Percy and Jason. Frank personally felt like hiding now. “We can start with the updates. Percy any landscape changes that might make a difference? Or are you gonna be late for that too?”  
Frank, who was sitting next to the angry looking Percy, swallowed. He saw Percy narrow his eyes. “Nothing to report. Everything seems the same.”  
Annabeth turned to Jason, “Jason? Anything?”  
“Same, nothing seems out of place. At least at the House of Hades, the sky seemed darker.”  
“Piper, have the monsters you’ve interrogated said anything useful?”  
“No…” It seemed to Frank that Piper wanted to add something but something was holding her back. “Nothing at all.”  
“And the engine is working perfectly!” Leo burst into the conversation. “I fixed it up with all the tools that the Hephaestus cabin left for me. They’re so considerate ya know? I never thought I’d have siblings. Anyway, it should be smooth sailing from here. Tha--”  
Annabeth lifted her hands to run through her hair. “That’s great.”  
Everyone seemed to let out a collective sigh, Leo still buzzing in his seat. As if all his ADHD multiplied tenfold.

“My gods,” Percy mumbled under his breath.  
“Do you have anything to say, Percy?” Annabeth’s hair stuck out slightly, making her seem like a young, blonde, female version of Albert Einstein. “Because I’m sure we’d all love to hear your input.”  
“Why do you sound like you’re trying to be a teacher? Is that your goal?”  
“We should all calm down.” Piper piped in.  
Annabeth whirled around, silver eyes blazed. “Shut up, Mclean. I’m so sick of you gett---”  
“Annabeth!” Percy reached forward to grasp her hand.  
“Percy maybe you shouldn’t”  
“Jason, just leave it.”  
Frank watched the scene unfold. To be perfectly honest, he found it kind of amusing. In the non-sleep riddled part of his brain, he knew whatever was about to happen wouldn’t be good. Leo was rambling in the background about nothing at all, clutching his tools with both hands as Annabeth was heatedly shouting at Piper and Percy. Percy tried in vain to calm her down while a pissed Jason and Piper tried to answer back. Their voices rose above the sacred silence. A glance, touch, and one small comment stirred a hurricane of harsh insults. Their own Pandora boxes opened, sending each word full speed ahead. Each bottled up thought over the past few days came flooding out. The shouting filled the air, each demigod - save hazel and Frank - talking rapidly. What was a once semi-peaceful room became polluted with rage. Frank tensed.  
“When do you think they’ll calm down?” Hazel asked, exhaustion written across her face. She was probably the most tired of them all, working so hard to find Epiales’ temple. A massive weight was put on her shoulders, the group of demigods all needed her to find the temple.  
“Give them a few minutes. I don’t even know how they have the energy to fight. I can barely move my eyes.”  
Hazel snorted. “Gods yeah.” she sighed.  
“A-are you okay?”  
“Y-yeah. I’m trying.”  
Frank wrapped his arm around her, feeling her nuzzle into his chest. “We aren’t gonna last forever are we?”  
Hazel’s eyes filled with tears. She softly cried into Frank’s chest, hands clutching at his jacket. Frank felt his heartbreak. The others stopped arguing, noticing Hazel. Everyone often forgot that she was the youngest of them all. Hazel pulled away once she noticed the silence, blinking long lashes heavy with tears.

Silence enveloped the group.

The silence gnawed at his insides. Silence hung in the air like the suspended moment before a falling glass shatters on the ground. The silence was unnatural as each demigod realised how stupid they were, like a morning devoid of birdsong. The silence choked him, tears wanting to fall from his eyes too. Frank was filled with frustration at everything. The gods, that damn Epiales, Gaia, Leo’s loud breathing. This was the cruellest punishment; not the insomnia (although that was terrible) but the sanity that was slowly being taken away from everyone. The seven seemed to be thinking, diffusing the situation in their minds. Annabeth slunk back into her seat, guilt etched across her face. Frank knew that Annabeth worked her hardest to get much-needed information about their debacle, rivalling Hazel. So, he couldn’t blame her.  
“Hazel--guys---I’m so sorry,” Annabeth spoke, worry lines deepening across her forehead. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “We--we need to do something. This could be fatal.”  
“Percy, where are we?” Piper asked, nervously picking at her braids.  
“39.1645° North, 20.5719° east. Vrachos.”  
“When in doubt; make a plan.” Jason sent a small smile towards Annabeth, prompting her to take the stage.  
“Right. Right. How about we set out to one...” Annabeth trailed off, staring directly at Hazel.  
Frank, and the rest of the demigods, turned to Hazel. Her golden eyes were glowing slightly, an especially weird sight. Hazel glanced upward, her mouth pursed but slightly open and loose. Her eyes fixed as if she's looking at something a yard behind Annabeth’s head. Percy called her name. She blinked and refocused, her eyes no longer glowing.  
"Sorry, what was that?”  
Frank’s heart sped up with happiness. The weight lifted from Frank’s shoulders as if an overly large child had just leapt off after a satisfying piggyback ride.  
“Y-your eyes.”  
“What? What’s wrong with my eyes?”  
Annabeth stood up, eyes lighting up with determination. “Upstairs now.”

The demigods raced upstairs, Hazel leading, breaking into the sunlight. As if in a trance, Hazel walked to the bow of the ship. She leant over, wind ruffling her dark curls into her face. A smile broke out on her face, teeth and all.  
“We’re near! We’re near! I can feel it!”  
Piper spun to Leo and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly in a frenzy.  
“Get to the controls!”  
The anticipation flooded into Frank, warming him from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. It tingled through him like electrical sparks. Before he knew it he was under Piper’s charm speak and he positioned himself by Hazel.  
Annabeth turned to Percy, looping her arm through his. “We can do this.”

\--

Before long, the crew of the Argo II found themselves sailing past barren cliffs, dangerous waves lapping at the sides. The coastline was entirely barren. The grey rock beach lead up to a grey rock cliff face. There was vegetation at the top of the cliffs but no sign of life and no way up the vertical rock face. The expanse of unwelcoming grey stretched far in front and far behind, like an ocean of rock.

“STOP!” Hazel shouted.  
If Frank wasn’t standing next to his girlfriend, he would think she was in danger. The demigods rushed forwards, abandoning their posts and joining Frank and Haze.  
“There! Do you see it?” hazel asked, desperation laced her frantic words as she pointed at the base of the cliffs in front.  
True enough, right where Hazel was pointing was a door of some kind.  
Frank shook Percy next to him. “Percy, you need to get us there.”  
Percy let out a breath through his nostrils. “Leo, can you park this thing? Because the Argo won’t get past those rocks.”  
“Yeah, just give me a second,” he replied before disappearing downstairs.

A couple of minutes later, Leo rejoined the group as a nervous energy began to spread. Frank would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous too. Butterflies filled his stomach and his head started buzzing with possibilities, or maybe adrenaline. Soon enough, Percy raised his hands and a hand made of water flowed up from the ocean. Sweat beaded his forehead, but aside from that, it scared Frank how effortlessly Percy made lifting the sea look.  
“This may sound weird, but you guys need to stand on the water.”  
“Wait--what? Percy, you are aware that not everyone can walk on water.” Piper asked incredulously.  
Percy rolled his eyes, a smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll tamper with the density a bit so you can stand. I’ll deliver you to the door and I’ll join you.”  
Frank was hesitant to stand on the water if he’s being perfectly honest. He knew he could easily change into a bird or something but something told Frank to stay with the group. Evidently, Jason felt the same way as he clambered on first. Frank stepped forward and it felt like he was standing on a water bed. The water moved softly around Frank’s feet, rippling with his weight. Once everyone was on, Percy turned his gaze towards the cliffs and puffed out his chest.

“Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for reading and see you next week!


	5. Hazel V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First part of the nightmares....MWAHAHAHA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm back! Thank you for all the lovely comments and kudos. 
> 
> I'm getting better at updating but I actually can't wait for the next few chapters!
> 
> ENJOY!!! xxx

Hazel V

Percy’s water hand dropped them off on a rocky edge, licks of saltwater slamming against the walls creating a thick mist. Hazel would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Hazel didn't want to chew on her nails or lips, it was one of the few things that stuck with her since her mother. So she found herself gnawing on the inside of her cheek. It seemed like everyone else was just as anxious as she was, each of their faces lined with worry. Soon the taste of blood filled Hazel’s mouth. She heard a splash back at the argo and not two seconds later Percy appeared on the ledge. Sunlight framed him from behind and if she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was a dark-haired Apollo. Hazel saw Annabeth unsheath her knife, setting her face to "casual indifference." Frank slipped his hand into Hazel’s, squeezing gently. The fear travelled in Hazel’s veins but never made it to her facial muscles or skin as she made a conscious decision to stay strong. She looked around the group. They all seemed slightly grey and frail (from the lack of sleep) but in each of their eyes, determination was set in stone. 

“We should go.” Annabeth stepped forward, Percy's fingers laced between hers. 

“Leo, will the Argo stay here?” Piper asked, shifting to face the jittery Leo. 

“It should stay here provided nothing attacks. I’m more worried about the creepy door that we’re about to walk through.” He said pointing towards the large stone wall that was protruding into the face of the cliff. The rock platform they were all standing on was becoming increasingly less stable - Hazel could sense it. The weird thing is, she couldn’t tell what was past the door. The door was solid rock. Nothing was going to budge it. The surface was flat and rough like the outside of a stainless steel refrigerator. There was no handle, no lock, no hinges, nothing to get a grip on. Intricate symbols of Pluto were etched along the sides and it eerily reminded Hazel of the doors of death. Evidently, Percy had the same thought as he gave it a terrifying glare. 

“Hmmm,” Jason ran his fingers across the door, the other hand scratching his chin. “Hazel, can you try and open the door?”

She nodded feeling her heartbeat speed up. Hazel let out a breath feeling six pairs of eyes focused on the back of her head. She stepped forward and placed her palm flat on the smooth surface. Her palms seemed to warm up and she wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating the golden glow from her hands. 

Hazel gasped, pain shooting up her arm as the door creaked open. She fell backwards into Percy and Jason. She tried to get up but quickly realized how futile it was when she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Sharp pain lanced through her right arm and colourful spots flashed in front of her eyes.

“-zel. Hazel!” Shouted Piper who was kneeling in front of her and offering a square of ambrosia. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Hazel took the square and swallowed thickly. “I-I’m fine. We need to go, the fl-floor isn’t s-stable.”

Soon enough Hazel was gently lifted by Jason and Percy onto her feet. Annabeth passed through the door first, dagger at the ready. Piper, Jason, Leo and Percy following on. 

Frank took her hand once more and let out a hesitant smile. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” 

Hazel passed through the door hearing it slam shut behind her, its creaking noise bringing a chill to her spine. It sounded like some dying animal, crying out its pain and sorrow with its last breath.

Ah, Hazel Levesque. It seems your child of the underworld instincts actually helped out for once. Now that you’re all here, let’s get started. Shall we?

“Show yourself” Jason, almost as if his Roman facade has cracked with the fear rooting into his system, shouted. 

The seven demigods were in a large, dome-like room. Ancient runes carved into the cave walls like satanic worshippers; symbols of power. There was a glow in the room from their celestial bronze and gold weapons, but other than that, the door to the cave had closed and left them in the dark. 

I don’t know if I want to. 

“Gods,” Percy whispered harshly to Annabeth, “It’s like we never get a break.” 

Hazel felt a ripple of unease radiate from Annabeth. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be forced into another quest just a couple of weeks after...down there. 

Her pulse jumped and her breath hitched when a swirl of light appeared in front of the group.

“Well, this was fun. All in favour to go back to the ship?”

“Leo!”

“Dude, shut up.”

There's no point demigods. 

Hazel couldn’t see anyone well enough in the dim lighting but she knew Leo’s elvish ears were probably tinted bright red. 

“Hazel” Annabeth boomed over the muttering. Somehow she still found a way to act brave after crawling out of literal hell and now trapped in a dark cave. Hazel was still amazed. “The symbol of Hades was inscribed on the door, so maybe you have to do something.”

“There!” the son of Poseidon said, “that golden platform in the middle. Go stand there. Maybe it’ll trigger something.”

Hazel turned to Frank, curiosity but a bit of hesitation laced on her petite features. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her for a quick hug despite his clear nervousness. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm. Despite the heaviness in her stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his. She sunk into the warmth of his side, appreciative of the simple gesture. 

“You can do this.” 

“Yeah...I can do this,” she replied, albeit tensely.

Hazel took in a deep breath and walked towards the golden plate placed in the middle of the floor. She passed Piper and she shot her a reassuring look. The rest of the group shuffled around nervously as Hazel stepped onto the plate. She wasn’t expecting anything like an explosion to be triggered, although if Leo had made it, he probably would’ve made it explode with great, pink fireworks just for fun. When Hazel stepped onto the plate it sucked into the ground and glowed brightly, the gold of the plate contrasting against the rocky, dirt floor. Behind her, Percy gripped riptide tighter. To say that he had become a bit more paranoid after the fall would be an understatement. 

Oh, this is gonna be so good. Have fun!

“Wh-whats going on?” Hazel stumbled back to the group as black smoke slowly billowed out from the hole in the ground. After the room was completely filled up with the smoke did they realise it wasn’t poisonous. 

“Ummm. Okay,” Leo exclaimed, “I guess we can’t see anymore. And I thought it was gonna be easy.” Piper then swiftly hit him round the head for that.

“Wait. Do you hear that?” Annabeth whisper-shouted. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. It sounds like voices.” Jason replied, craning his neck up towards the ceiling. 

Slowly, out of the shadows from the smoke, the room moved. The demigods were no longer in a dark cave but now they were in a school playground. 

“Hazel…” Leo spoke, “Isn’t this--”

“This is my old school. Back in New Orleans. This-this isn’t right.”

The air was cold and the wind was strong. Hazel could feel the hairs on her body rise as the cold wind hit her face as she watched phantom children gather in the school playground. A dirty brick building was in the background, bars on the windows and barely any colour in sight. School children all dressed in dark frocks and shirts. The noise of screaming kids filled Hazel’s ears. She was hit with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Figures came running out of the school into the schoolyard; appearing out of the mist. The seven were now in a three-dimensional picture. They stood in a huddle as mist school figures passed through them as they gazed around. Soon, a much younger Hazel was seen walking away from a group of kids; each with a horrible expression on their faces. They shoved her down to the ground, young Hazel getting up all muddy.

“Oh look. The witch is gonna go cry” yelled a girl with incredibly frizzy, red hair. She had a horribly sadistic grin on her freckled face.

The group around the cornered mist Hazel laughed wildly as if it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. They continued to throw mud at the crying Hazel.

“P-please s-stop it.” whispered a distraught younger Hazel, whilst the older looked back with pain in her eyes. 

“What’re ya gonna do? Curse us?” another round of phantom laughing. 

The real Hazel felt her eyes well up with tears. She remembered the constant bullying she had because of who she was. She remembered constantly hating who she was because of them. All their stares. All their words. It hurt her more than she’d like to admit. 

The mist started swirling into a new scene. The room the group was standing was with polished wood furniture and a distinct green light. In that dark room with highlights of an emerald green, there were shapes in monochrome. A bookshelf with jars upon jars of weird materials that are filled with stuff Hazel still doesn’t know of. Couches covered in dust and white sheets blocking any incoming light from the small windows of the box like wood. Hazel felt like coughing as the dust-filled her nose, this applied for Leo as he sneezed several times. Once they all took in the scene, the seven immediately spotted a young Hazel hiding underneath a table. She was wearing a white nightdress, covering her ears with her hands, tears glistening in her large, golden eyes. 

“Y-you’re a mistake!” cried a seemingly crazy, older looking Hazel. “You’re a curse. My punishment. It’s YOUR fault.” The older woman dropped to her knees and crawled over to the weeping Hazel. Reaching out her shaking hands, the woman sunk her nails into Hazel’s arms. Mist Hazel let out a whimper. “I-I-I HATE YOU!” 

Mist Hazel started crying frantically; she couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. 

The scene changed again, leaving the seven silent and wide-eyed. The room seemed to revert back to the cave-like walls this time. Only, now Hazel was in the arms of the woman as the cavern seemed to shake and collapse. Particles of dirt fell from the ceiling coating the two, seemingly immensely tired people in layers of brown as they kneeled, clutching each other tightly. The crazy woman kissed Hazel’s forehead gently and held her close. 

“You were my gift, Hazel,” she said. “My most precious gift. I was foolish to think I needed anything else.”

“Stop this!” the seven tensed, they knew it was Gaia’s voice. The same aggravatingly silky tone that was etched into every one of their nightmares. “You cannot prevent his rise. At best, you will delay him - a few decades. Half a century. Would you trade your lives for that?”

Hazel, knowing what was going to happen, wondered if the seven would be stuck under the mist rubble too. She snapped out of her frantic thoughts as neither of the younger Hazel or her mist mother replied. The ceiling caved in on the pair and the room was plunged into darkness. 

Once again, the scene changed and this time, they were in the underworld. The group saw Nico Di Angelo running towards a dark tunnel, holding the hand of a ghostly looking Hazel. 

“Quick! No one should know we’re here!” whispered Nico harshly to a blank looking Hazel. She bore no expression and to be honest, it was quite unnerving. 

She nodded in acknowledgement and followed his gruelling pace without complaint. The warm humidity of the pathway made Hazel feel sticky and suffocated. The seven could see mist Hazel and Nico’s clothes and hair were slick with perspiration that clung to their skin. Hazel could feel her heart throbbing painfully inside her chest. Her skin felt like it was roasting. The mist duo began bouncing slightly as they jogged slower, nearing the end of the doorway which was glowing slightly as if the darkness was being sucked in. They settled to stumbling along as fast as they could as Hazel watched with wide eyes. She had no recollection of this but somehow it made her throat constrict and parched. They ran up the steps, their footsteps echoed into the darkness and not one of them stopped their fast pace to the top. The seven demigods seemed to be passing through the rock walls as they watched the children of Hades or Pluto stumble to the top, each bearing their own separate expressions of bewilderment. They continued to run until a faint light appeared at the top, neither of them stopping until they burst into the outside. Immediately, the mist Hazel collapsed onto the ground of central park convulsing in violent spurs. Nico fell to her side and held her as she whimpered in pain. 

“I’m here, I’m here.” he continued, “we’ll get you to safety.”

The mist started to change again and they were standing next to a mist Frank and Hazel who both seemed slightly berserk. 

“Your bow!” Hazel shouted. 

Frank didn’t ask questions. He dropped his large black backpack to the dirt floor and slipped the bow off his shoulder. 

“Hold one end. Don’t let go.” She grabbed the other end, took a deep breath and dived into the bog. 

The earth immediately closed over her head and the seven seemed to sink into the ground with her. Only they were able to see a flailing Percy deeper in the ground and a fastly sinking Hazel reaching out her hands. Phantom Hazel seemed to freeze and once again Hazel felt like she would vomit. After some time, mist Percy quickly grabbed onto her ankle and Hazel frantically wiggled the arrow line. The rope seemed to snap with a large force causing Hazel and Percy to launch up and out of the mud. When Hazel opened her eyes, she was lying in the grass, covered in thick muck. Percy sprawled at her feet, coughing and spitting mud. 

“I remember that.” The real Percy muttered from the group. 

The scene shifted once again. Hazel, Frank and Percy were creeping around the same dusty house from the first vision, only a million times more dusty and covered in thick spider webs. The real Annabeth cringed slightly. Hazel picked up a framed picture of her and a guy that looks identical to Leo as she discreetly wiped her eyes. Frank, who was sifting through some paintings, noticed and gave her an encouraging look. Hazel didn’t realise she looked so heartbroken at the time but watching back now, well...it was impossible. 

Mist swirling around the seven, they found themselves in a familiar place. They were standing by the doors of death and watched as their past selves fought Clytius. Hecate turned her torches upside down. She thrust them like daggers at Clytius’ head. The giant’s hair went up faster than dry timber, spreading down his head and across his body until the heat of the bonfire made the phantom Hazel wince. Clytius fell without a sound, face-first into the rubble of Hades’ altar. His body crumbled to ashes. For a moment no one spoke. Mist Hazel was breathing heavily and swayed in the air slightly. 

The goddess Hecate faced her. “You should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place.” 

Hazel gritted her teeth, limping towards the goddess. “Just like that? No “thank you”? No “good work”?” 

The goddess tilted her head. Her weasel chittered - maybe a goodbye, maybe a warning - and disappeared into her mistress’s skirts. 

“You look in the wrong place for gratitude,” Hecate said and turned away. “As for “good work”, that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen - all of them, stronger than ever. Gaia is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her.” 

The chamber rumbled. Another stela crashed to the floor and shattered. 

“The House of Hades is unstable. Leave now. We shall meet again.” Hecate turned back to Hazel and grabbed her arm. “Don’t make me regret choosing you like I did with your mother.” she seethed. She then dissolved into mist. 

Not only did Hecate dissolve but the rest of the scene did, leaving the seven in the cave once more. 

Silence enveloped the group, each trying to process the overload of information they just received. 

Streaming tears cleansed Hazel’s red cheeks. She didn’t want to cry. But not only seeing her mother again but her continuous death-defying acts over her short life made Hazel wistful. A few droplets remained, forgetting their way as the path was swept from beneath them, consequently blurring her vision with waves of sadness only the broken encounter. 

Bitter. Unforgiving. Pain.

“What was that?” Piper asked the group, barely concealing the waver in her voice. Hazel couldn’t help but feel like something bad was going to happen; something really bad. 

“I-I don’t know.” She paused “But they were all my memories.” Hazel faced the seven, stretching the skin under her eyes to wipe away the leftover tears. “They were some of my worst memories. Seven to be precise.”

Annabeth stepped forward, slightly frazzled. “Epiales mentioned on the ship that he needed to slow us down and so..why not have fun? He seems like the god who would get off messing us up even more.” She made steely eye contact with every one of the demigods. “He’s the god of nightmares. It’s the only possible reason.” 

“Great.” Leo sighed. “So who’s next?” 

Just as the son of Hephaestus said this, a door, identical to Hazel’s door, moulded into the wall across from them. A clear anvil symbol appeared above the door, edges lined with gold. 

Percy slapped Leo’s shoulder, “I think that means it’s you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a kudos and thank you all for your support!
> 
> xxx


	6. Frank VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Leo's time my BOIIIIIIIs!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm so sorry for updating so late, I've had a crap-ton of tests at school and I had no time. I'm nearly at summer so you can expect more consistent updates from then on out. Again thanks! xxx
> 
> Don't forget to comment and leave a kudos!

Frank POV: Chapter 6

Hazel shuffled back into Frank’s side. He could vaguely register her tears making his shirt a bit damp. She walked up to Frank slowly, hands pulling at the skin under her golden eyes as if trying to smooth out non-existent wrinkles. Frank pulled her closer to him wrapping his arms around her smaller body. Her presence was warm, and, to Frank, his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her little but by no means frail body. Frank’s head was still racing slightly. He didn’t realise Marie was so terrible. He looked at Hazel in a whole new light. She never brought up her bullying, or her mother, or when she got out of the underworld. Frank watched Hazel, turning his head down, without turning his body, his heart was hammering but he kept his gait casual with no hint of hesitation. He needed to be there for Hazel like she would be there for him, probably in the future when it’s his turn.   
Percy walked up and placed a comforting hand on Hazel’s shoulder, sadness ingrained into his features.   
‘Hazel, hey. Look at me.’  
Her eyes shifted to the side again and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip tightly in an attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth; Frank’s heart sank.  
“It’s over. It’s done. And you are so, so strong.”  
Her lower lip quivered as words slowly made their way out of her mouth. ‘They’re…’ She began, yet she seemingly swallowed and puffed out her shoulders; straight back and head held high.  
‘Just...a bit of a shock to the system.’  
Frank glanced nervously at Leo - he was next. The smaller boy was staring with a quizzical expression at Hephaestus' marked door. Cold sweat glistened on his furrowed brow. With hands clasped tightly in front of his stomach, he constantly fiddled with his knuckles, weaving his fingers in and out of each other. Frank couldn’t read him well enough to know exactly what he was thinking but got the gist. It was going to be exactly what Frank was thinking as soon as the mist cleared. What will I see? Frank had things he wouldn’t mind forgetting for a bit. It seemed everyone else was thinking this too. Annabeth especially. Eyebrows furrowed and pursed lips. Of course, thought Frank. There was probably a lot of stuff that happened down there. 

Demigods!

The seven immediately jumped, grabbing their assorted weapons from their respective pockets and sheaths. The group was enveloped in a silent anger. Frank cast his eyes to the stone floors. Hate and enmity welled up in his heart, fury itself burning him up. Frank didn’t usually feel this level of anger but for all that...thing put on Hazel was infuriating. He has no doubt that tensions will only run higher as they pass through the rest of the rooms. 

Just get on with it, please. Although, I do find all your faces quite funny. 

Frank clutched his bow harder, biting back a retort. It seems Leo did not.   
‘C’mon you coward. Face us like last time. I guarantee you won’t be so happy then!’  
Piper put her hand on his raised fist, pushing it down gently. ‘Just...don’t.’  
Leo rubbed his hand against his face and let out a deep sigh. He turned his head to face the rest of the group that were standing slightly behind him, Frank included and made a gesture to the door. A collective decision washed over the seven as they approached the door. Above the dirt door was a sign of an anvil, crevices lined what seemed like liquid gold. With Leo in front, each demigod passed into the next identical looking room with Jason at the back. The room seemed the same, only more dust was collected on the stone floors giving a more musty smell. Like before, there was a plate set in the middle of the room, waiting to be activated. Frank is sure Leo had thought about how it all worked. 

Jason called out to Leo as he advanced to the plate, concern laced in his tone but overwhelming support was focused out to the son Hephaestus. “You got this!”  
Leo glanced back, a small smirk on his nervous face, “you know it, Sparky.”  
Stepping onto the porcelain? - Frank wasn’t sure - plate, thick plumes of dark mist filled the room in heated waves. Like a snake rising from a woven basket, the smoke twisted and turned, surrounding the small group of demigods. Frank held his breath, waiting for the first memory. 

The mist slowly changed into a grubby looking workshop, tools and cars parts placed randomly on work surfaces and the grey cement floor. A young looking Leo was standing, terrified by a table in the corner of the room. A woman was slowly walking towards the eight year old boy, zombie like and truly nightmarish. With a chill, Frank realised who the woman was. Behind the veil, her eyes were closed. But even stranger: her clothes were not made of cloth. They were made of earth - dry black dirt, churning and shifting around her. Her pale, sleeping face was barely visible behind a curtain of dust and Frank felt like she had just risen from a grave. If the woman was asleep, Frank wanted her to stay that way. He knew that fully awake she would be even more terrible.  
‘I cannot destroy you yet,’ the woman murmured. ‘The Fates will not allow it. But they do not protect your mother, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me.’  
‘Leave my mother alone!’ Squeaked mist Leo, unshed tears glistening in his large brown eyes.   
Gaia walked forwards, more like an avalanche than a person, a dark wall of earth shifting towards the mist boy.   
‘How will you stop me?’ she whispered.   
She walked straight through a table, the particles of her body reassembling on the other side.   
She loomed over Leo, Frank worried for the real Leo who was pressing the palms of his hands to his eyes and lifting his arms to cover his ears. Frank turned his attention back to the scene that was laid in front of him just when the mist Leo stuck his arms out and lines of fire shot out. The room quickly filled up with flames and smoke, making Frank sweat and cover his mouth. Barely being able to see, he caught sight of the mist Leo collapsing and hitting the floor with a thump. 

Swirling around Frank and making him even more dizzy, Frank found himself on the side of a road. It was dark and a faint breeze made Frank feel weird from the dramatic change in temperature. Red and blue lights were flashing and he saw two figures - one sitting on the pavement and another taller one standing beside him. Frank felt his pulse pick up when he realised it was the police. The man was middle aged and had thinning hair. His belly was starting to show through his dark blue uniform as he was writing something in a leather notebook. Frank shifted his attention to the little kid next to the man. He gaped when he saw Leo. He was glaring at the ground in a way that made him seem like a kitten trying to be a lion.   
‘Okay....Leonidas Valdez. I’ll have to bring you to the station now.’  
Little Leo picked himself up and wiped his eyes again as the cop roughly grabbed his shoulders. ‘Okay, okay. Jeez. I’m coming.’  
The cop shoved a finger into Leo’s shoulder making him wince. Without saying another word, he shoved Leo’s head down and forced him into the back of the car. “I’m working overtime for this. Dumb kid.”  
Frank couldn’t quite see what was happening in the back seat but he couldn’t even begin to imagine how Leo must be feeling. Hades, he doesn’t even look twelve yet! The car took off, much too fast for a cop with a kid in the backseats, skidding away as the seven were left on the road. 

Immediately, when the newest scene took place, Frank had to grab onto the object closest to him which happened to be a metal bar. Plumes of dust and other debris wafted into his face and Frank covered his eyes in vain.   
‘Jason, Leo, stay behind me,’ and livid looking Coach Hedge ordered. ‘This is my fight. I should’ve known that was our monster.’  
‘What?’ a very confused Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. ‘What monster?’  
The coach’s cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps - like the knots of cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. Coach hedge lifted his crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.   
A wind spirit - Frank remembered Jason telling him about Dylan - gave a psycho happy smile. ‘Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you’re getting too old for this. Isn’t that why they retired you to this stupid school? I’ve been on your team the entire season and you didn’t even know. You’re losing your nose, grandpa.’  
The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. ‘That’s it, cupcake. You’re going down.’  
‘You think you can protect three half-bloods at once, old man?’ Dylan laughed. ‘Good luck.’  
Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo shrieked as he flew off the skywalk like he’d been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist midair and slammed sideways into an orange canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally, he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips. A muffled groan floated up from where Leo was clinging.   
‘Help!’ he yelled up at the mist group and the astonished seven. ‘Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?’

The world around spun and, again, the group was off to the side of Leo, Piper and Jason in a wreck. Jason and Piper were leaning over a sickly Leo. He was lying in the snow, covered in mud and grease looking like he just woke up. Leo spat a clump of frozen grass out of his mouth.  
‘Where -’  
‘Lie still.’ Piper had tears in her eyes. ‘You rolled pretty hard when - when Festus -’  
‘Where is he?’ Leo sat up, but he clutched his head in pain.   
‘Seriously, Leo,’ Jason said next to him, forehead creased in worry. ‘You could be hurt. You shouldn’t -’  
Leo pushed himself to his feet, eyes fixed on the pile of dented golden metal, which Frank saw was smoking. Frank realised with a jolt that this was the badly damaged dragon that was mounted on the Argo II. He never knew it was once a full-scale dragon machine. The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had ploughed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the yard of what seemed to be a mansion before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rose bushes like a pillow.   
‘No,’ Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon’s head and stroked its snout. The dragon’s eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.   
‘You can’t go,’ Leo pleaded. ‘You’re the best thing I ever fixed.’  
The dragon’s head whirred its gears and its eyes went dark after a series of rhythmic clicking. Frank didn’t understand what had happened but as mist Leo buried his head in his hands to cry, Frank knew it was something important. 

Frank soon found himself somewhere very familiar. It was the Argo II, back in America though. Leo was slumped against the mast. All around the group, the Argo II deck was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which Frank remembered made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball, and Frank could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.   
Frank turned his attention back to the miserable-looking Leo. His chest jerked like he was choking back a sob. ‘I don’t know. It’s fuzzy.’  
Frank saw that too many people were looking at Leo; Annabeth (she was especially scaring with her silver eyes that looked like they could bore into your soul), Coach hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt and baseball bat and of course, himself. It unnerved Frank not only how much he had changed in such a short time but also the looks the mist him was giving mist Leo. Guilt quickly grabbed hold of his heart.   
Annabeth crossed her arms. ‘You mean you don’t remember?’  
‘I…’ Leo looked like he was trying to swallow a ping pong ball in his throat. His Adam's apple bobbed after every gulp. ‘I remember, but it’s like I was watching myself do things. I couldn’t control it.’  
Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. In his gym clothes, with his cap pulled over his horns, he looked like an average highschool football coach.   
‘Look kid,’ hedge said, ‘you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match.’  
‘Coach,’ Annabeth said sternly, ‘why don’t you make sure all the fires are out?’  
‘But I already did that.’  
‘Do it again.’  
The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Mist Leo quickly wiped his eyes and took a breath. Frank felt really bad. He didn’t want Leo’s first memory of him to be a bad one, and ridiculing him for something he didn’t mean made him regret the anger he directed at Leo that day; not that he didn’t already. 

Hazel suddenly appeared standing alongside Leo, sunset gracing the sky in varying hues of pink and purple. Next to them sat a woman shrouded in a dwindling mist. She sat on a boulder in the middle of a grassy field. A black-and-chrome motorcycle was parked nearby, but each of the wheels had a big pie slice removed from the spokes and rim, so that they resembled Pac-men. No way was the bike drivable in that condition.   
The woman had curly black hair and a bony frame. She wore black leather biker’s pants, tall leather boots and a blood-red leather jacket - sort of a Michael Jackson joins the Hell’s Angels look. Her red leather jacket has a subtle design to it - twisted branches of an apple populated with skeletal birds. Attached to the woman’s belt was a curled whip. Around her feet, the ground was littered with what looked like broken shells. She was hunched over, pulling new ones out of a sack and cracking them open. Frank saw they were fortune cookies if he looked closely. A pile of broken cookies lay ankle-deep all around her. She kept pulling new ones from her sack, cracking them open and reading the fortunes. Most she tossed aside. A few made her mutter unhappily. She would swipe her finger over the slip of paper like she was smudging it, then magically reseal the cookie and toss it into a nearby basket.   
‘Why, to offer my help!’ The woman smiled wickedly.   
Leo glanced at Hazel. Frank thought she looked like she’d just been offered a free snake.   
‘Your help,’ Leo said.   
‘Of course!’ said the goddess. ‘I enjoy tearing down the proud and powerful, and there are none who deserve tearing down like Gaia and her giants. Still, I must warn you that I will not suffer undeserved success. Good luck is a sham. The wheel of fortune is a Ponzi scheme. True success requires sacrifice.’  
‘Sacrifice?’ Hazel’s voice was tight. ‘I lost my mother. I died and came back. Now my brother is missing. Isn’t that enough sacrifice for you?’  
Frank watched Leo carefully as an influx of emotions crossed his usually cheerful face. ‘Right now,’ Leo said, clenching his fists tightly, ‘all I want is some Celestial bronze.’  
‘Oh, that’s easy,’ the woman, who Frank thinks might be Nemesis if he recalls Hazel telling him about, said. ‘It’s just over the rise. You’ll find it with the sweethearts.’  
‘Wait,’ Hazel said. ‘What sweethearts?’  
Nemesis popped a cookie in her mouth and swallowed it, fortune and all. ‘You’ll see. Perhaps they will teach you a lesson, Hazel Levesque. Most heroes cannot escape their nature, even when given a second chance at life.’ She smiled. ‘And speaking of your brother, Nico, you don’t have much time. Let’s see...it’s June twenty fifth? Yes, after today, six more days. Then he dies, along with the entire city of Rome.’  
Hazel’s eyes widened. ‘How...what -?’  
‘And as for you, child of fire.’ Nemesis turned to Leo, her eyes ablaze. Her expression was foul and Frank felt chills even though it wasn’t directed to him. ‘Your worst hardships are yet to come. You will always be the outsider, the seventh wheel. You will not find a place among your brethren. Soon you will face a problem you cannot solve, though I could help you...for a price’  
The last Frank saw of the scene was a disgruntled Leo shifting his eyes towards the creepy woman, lips pursed. 

The air was filled with a sea breeze and fresh grass. It would be a lie if Frank didn’t think that it was too perfect. The group found themselves on a sandy beach, stretching out for miles as the darkness of the night sky soothed Frank and his jitters. There were no landmasses or ships all the way to the horizon. Looking inland, he saw grassy hills dotted with trees. A footpath wound through a grove of cedars.   
‘You didn’t really think I could start Leo and Calypso’s Auto Repair without Calypso, did you?’ Leo asked, drawing Frank out of his thinking ‘I can’t make cider and stew, and I sure can’t sing.’  
A beautiful girl stared at the sand. She wore a sleeveless white Greek-style dress with a gold braided belt. Her hair was long, straight, and golden brown—almost the same cinnamon-toast colour as Hazel’s, but the similarity to Hazel ended there. The girl’s face was milky pale, with dark, almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips.   
‘Well, anyway,’ Leo said, ‘tomorrow I’ll start on the lumber. And in a few days…’  
He looked out over the water. Something was bobbing on the waves. Frank watched as a large wooden raft floated in on the tide and slid to a stop on the beach.  
Leo seemed too dazed to move, but the girl - Calypso - sprang to her feet.  
‘Hurry!’ She sprinted across the beach, grabbed some supply bags, and ran them to the raft. ‘I don’t know how long it will stay!’  
‘But…’ Leo stood. ‘That’s the magic raft?’  
‘Duh!’ Calypso yelled. ‘It might work like it’s supposed to and take you where you want to go. But we can’t be sure. The island’s magic is obviously unstable. You must rig up your guidance device to navigate.’  
She snatched up the console and ran toward the raft, which got Leo moving. He helped her fasten it to the raft and run wires to the small rudder in the back. The raft was already fitted with a mast, so Leo and Calypso hauled their sail aboard and started on the rigging.  
They worked side by side in perfect harmony. In no time, they had the sail in place and all the supplies aboard. Leo hit the buttons on the Archimedes sphere, muttered something under his breath and the Celestial bronze console hummed to life.  
The rigging tightened. The sail turned. The raft began scraping against the sand, straining to reach the waves.  
‘Go,’ Calypso said.  
Leo turned. ‘The raft finally got here.’  
Calypso snorted. ‘You just noticed?’  
‘But if it only shows up for guys you like—’  
‘Don’t push your luck, Leo Valdez,’ she said. ‘I still hate you.’  
‘Okay.’  
‘And you are not coming back here,” she insisted. “So don’t give me any empty promises.’  
‘How about a full promise?’ he said. ‘Because I’m definitely—’  
She grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss, which effectively shut him up.  
Calypso pushed him away. ‘That didn’t happen.’  
‘Okay.’ His voice sounded an octave higher than usual and Frank nearly wanted to laugh.   
‘Get out of here.’  
‘Okay.’  
She turned, wiping her eyes furiously, and stormed up the beach, the breeze tousling her hair.  
Leo looked like he wanted to call to her, but the sail caught the full force of the wind, and the raft cleared the beach. He struggled to align the guidance console. By the time Leo looked back, the island of Ogygia was a dark line in the distance, their campfire pulsing like a tiny orange heart.

The seven whirled back into the dome room. Frank felt like the last memory was slightly out of place; so happy compared to the others. But as he caught sight of Leo who was biting his lower lip, Frank realised that leaving Calypso would have been harder than it seemed.   
Strange thing love is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a kudos! Again, sorry for the late update.


	7. Leo VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's my boy Jason's turn!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm going to write consistently the next few days to make up for the lost time. I'm so sorry for being late with updates. I went on a camping trip with my friends so I wasn't able to work.
> 
> I'll be better!!
> 
> Please review and thank you all for your support!!! XXX

Leo POV: Chapter 7

Okay…okay. It’s over. Leo took a deep breath. He didn’t want to see his Mother’s...what he did- the police- Festus. No. Leo knew that demigods don’t exactly have happy lives so what's one more. He doesn’t matter. People are dying---have died. Leo is lucky. If anything, Leo felt guilty. In his short sixteen years, he’s brought so much pain and danger. What he had done he could not un-do to his Mother. He could make amends in subtle ways, but confession was out of the question, even to his priests. Although, it’s not like they don’t know that he accidentally killed his mother. It’s fine--He’s fine. In the end he--  
“Leo?” Piper asked tentatively, “Are you good?”  
Leo directed his gaze back up from the rocky ground and forced a grin on his face. “Shut up, Mclean. Let’s just get to the next room.”  
Percy snorted, more like a heavy exhale, “yeah, man.”  
Glancing to the next door, the group shuffled forwards. It seemed as if everyone was a bit uncomfortable around each other. Annabeth and Jason each had deep creases in their foreheads whilst the rest, including Leo, clutched their weapons awkwardly as they approached the newest door in the cavern. Leo still felt slightly funny. In his memories, the temperatures changed often. One point his face was nearly melting off him and the next the frostbitten wind nipped at his cheeks and nose. A heavy silence settled over them, thicker than the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Unsettled eyes glanced unceremoniously around and tried to avoid catching other glances that passed by. Leo could tell that Piper was trying to get his eye but he just didn’t need her sympathy. He didn’t need anyone. The newest door was clearly in the shape of a lightning bolt. Blue licks of light flowed through the indentations, it made Leo wonder how long these doors have been here.  
Jason sighed heavily. The seven shuffled their feet against the dirt of the floor, awkwardly tracing the outlines of each lone stone while daring anyone to speak. Jason walked towards the door as if it were any other, keeping it open for the others to pass through. Chivalry is not dead, Leo thought. Jason grabbed his wrist as Leo walked past. He was so on edge it was a wonder that he didn’t torch his bro. Then Jason smiled. There was kindness in his smile, a gentleness that made Leo feel immediately better. Like he had his back.  
Leo cleared his throat. “Get ready man. It kinda sucks.”  
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.”  
Leo felt himself wink as he slipped past and settle himself among the rest of the group that was gathered around the plate.

Leo really hated these rooms.

Without wasting any time, Jason marched up to the plate and stepped down. Leo felt like he should’ve been expecting an explosion or something by the way everyone was glancing around. Then the room once again filled up with the familiar smoke and Leo held his breath.

Leo found himself in a dense forest. The sky was pitch black but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway as the trees covered up their sight overhead. A child’s cries could be heard echoing through the dense bush. Leo would be lying if he said he didn’t find it creepy in any way. It was as if the Gods had adjusted the colours of the world in the night like it was as easy as twisting one of those old plastic dials on a TV set. All the colours were muted greys and blacks, only illuminated by a few streaks of strong moonlight. The bare branches spiked into the sky - no sign of life to be found anywhere. It was so dark the group was barely able to see where they were going. The ground underneath them blurred, pushing them closer and closer to the sounds of crying. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. Leo didn't know what laid in the dark forest, all he knew was that it wasn't going to be a peaceful journey. They approached the source of the noise. It was a toddler - no older than maybe three? - clutched in the arms of a woman. She was dressed in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders, she wore an animal skin cloak. Leo didn't know what type of animal it was but he could take a guess and think it was goat or sheep. She was holding a toddler-sized bundled of flailing limbs and ghoulish shrieks. Out the top of the blanket was a tuft of blonde hair and almost glowing electric blue eyes.  
“Jason!” The real Piper exclaimed. “Is that--is that you?”  
Jason bit his lip and nodded hesitantly. “I think this is the exchange. Juno and Jupiter agreed my life would be...would be like repaying a debt.” he gestured to the woman. “Juno’s my patron.”   
The woman’s voice boomed suddenly making Leo jump.  
“I trust you, Lupa. Know that I will do everything in my power to ruin you should you fail.”  
A large wolf with dotted grey and brown fur stepped out from the line of trees.  
“Believe me, my Queen.” She snarled, “the boy will be safe.”  
Seemingly satisfied, Hera, or Juno, Leo thought, waved her hand and silenced the screaming Jason. She placed him on the forest floor and vanished in a burst of light.

Leo felt slightly sick as the scene blurred around him. The group were standing in a beautiful Italian looking house. The walls were sandstone and draped with all sorts of silks, most of them a rich purple. Different types of sofas and couches were set in circular layouts, Leo thought it seemed like a sleepover would start. Bowls of fruits were placed on pillars, not a fly in sight. The sun beamed down on Leo’s sweaty back, like it was the heat of July. There were two people standing in the middle of the room both faces so bright red and so anger-filled that Leo immediately felt like he was intruding. But isn’t that the point of this debacle; invading his friends’ personal memories for the gain and emotional leverage of a madman.  
“I thought you wanted to prove yourself?” Shouted the girl in the duo fighting. Her thick hair was popping out of her braid in heaps as a vein stuck out of her tan forehead. Leo realised with a jump that this was a much younger Reyna. Her armour and cape were gone, instead replaced with a purple shirt and jeans. It was weird, like seeing a teacher out of school. “You’re a coward Jason Grace!”  
Leo turned to see an equally infuriated younger Jason. This time he was the one dressed up. He had a white toga that made him look like he was wearing a bedsheet. “I’m NOT a coward! But this is clearly a suicide mission! What do you want me to do?”  
“Arguing with you is so pointless because your retort is based more on your own emotions than the quality or intention of my response.”  
“Gods! You just think you’re so smart, don’t you?”  
“Holy Jupiter! I’m trying to help you! You’ve said all your life you wanted to prove yourself, well, this is your chance, you imbecile!”  
The heated quarrel continued. It was definitely a war of words and who can hurt the other one worse. Both of them at each other throats like savage hungry dogs fighting over dominance. They both drew their swords in anger. Leo felt dread fill his stomach; this couldn’t end well. Reyna held her gold blade even, a perfect, undaunted horizon; levelled with Jason’s nose. Jason mirrored her stance. Like time went in double, they attacked with speed and strength. If Leo didn’t know any better, he’d think it was a fight to the death with the way the fighters were stabbing and slashing. Reyna seemed to fake her next hit to Jason’s chest before striking him right across the cheek, drawing blood in a deep gash.  
Finally, Jason seemed to step back, lifting his hands in a surrender motion. “I---I just need time.”  
Reyna ran a hand through her messy hair and pushed her shoulders back. “You don’t have time.”   
“But..”  
“This is your fate, Jason.” She paused, her eyes shutting as if trying to banish her thoughts. “I can’t force you to do anything but...please, if not for you, for Rome.”  
With that, she left the room in a flourish leaving the bleeding Jason to clutch his cheek. He sat himself down on one of the couches and let his head hang with his shoulders hunched. Before the seven were transported to the next memory Leo could have sworn he could see mist Jason’s hunched shoulders shaking as if he were...crying?

Leo was now in a similar-looking room as he was in before except the furniture was different. Instead of sofas and couches, there was a double bed and piles of clothes on the ground. The night sky shone from outside the window, white curtains billowing with the soft breeze. There was absolute stillness in the room. No air stirred the potted plants or sheets of the bed. No clouds drifted in the sea of blue above that Leo could see. No water dripped or flowed. Not a sound could be heard either close at hand or in the far off distance. Even Leo’s own breath seemed to die as soon as it left his mouth. It was an eerie sort of tranquillity, so instead of being soothing to Leo, his senses became heightened. His attention was quickly pulled to the pacing figure near the door of the room. The mist Jason was pulling on the left side of his head, sweat coating his forehead and stains could be seen on his light blue shirt. Leo felt really bad for his bro. He could see his eyes were tightly shut as if trying to banish all his negative thoughts. The mist Jason seemed a lot older than the Jason from before but that didn’t mean this kind of stress was good either way. Both mist Jason and Leo were startled out of their thoughts when a knock came from the other side of the door.  
“Praetor Jason, I know you’re awake.” A snivelling voice shouted, completely ruining the silence of the night.  
Jason exhaled through his nose and went to open the door. Before he could even reach the knob the door burst open, slamming Jason to the wall. Octavian walked in with two much larger “friends” behind him. They all crossed their arms looking very similar to boy band wannabes.  
“Yes, Octavian? Do you need anything?” Jason asked, clutching his side that was banged by the door.  
Octavian surged forwards and grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt. It looked quite funny to Leo seeing as Jason was at least a head taller than Octavian.  
“I just had a vision of your little nightmare, don’t think I don’t know about your true intentions. You’ll lead Rome to the dust. Mark my words.”  
Jason lifted Octavian's hand off his shirt, glare focusing on the smaller boy like a death ray. “Remember who you’re talking to, Augur.” Jason spat.  
Octavian sneered then clicked his fingers. One of the boons behind him went up and punched Jason right across the face. He fell to the floor in a heap.  
“Remember who you’re talking to, Praetor.”  
Leo found himself somewhere familiar. The seven were sort of floating alongside the fast travelling bus, seeing through the walls and getting a full view of the scene. Leo saw a very confused Jason lift his head and glance at his and mist Piper’s hands that were together. So this was the moment that it all went downhill, huh? A few dozen were sprawled in the seats all around the pair. Leo could spot himself in front of Jason and Piper fiddling with a pencil. Leo remembered all of the kids on the bus; they all sucked. The bus rumbled along the bumpy road. Out of the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky.  
“Jason, you okay?” Piper squeezed Jason’s hand.  
Piper was wearing faded jeans, hiking boots and a fleece snowboarding jacket. She looked like the normal Piper, before all the Aphrodite shenanigans and monster killing.  
Jason let go of her hand. “Um, I don’t -”  
In the front of the bus, a familiar teacher shouted, “All right, cupcakes, listen up!”  
When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, “Stand up, Couch Hedge!”  
“I heard that!” The coach scanned the bus for the offender. His eyes seemed to fix on Jason, and his scowl deepened. Coach Hedge cleared his throat and continued, “We’ll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don’t lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip I will personally send you back to campus the hard way.”  
He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.  
Jason looked to Piper. “Can he talk to us that way?”  
She shrugged. “Always does. This is the Wilderness School. “Where kids are the animals.””  
She said it like it was a joke they’d shared before.  
“This is some kind of mistake,” Jason said. “I’m not supposed to be here.”  
Leo could see himself turn and laugh. “Yeah, right, Jason. We’ve all been framed! I didn’t run away six times. Piper didn’t steal a BMW.”  
Piper blushed. “I didn’t steal that car, Leo!”  
“Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You “talked” the dealer into lending it to you?” He raised his eyebrows in a comical way. “Anyway, I hope you’ve got your worksheet ‘cause I used mine as spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?  
“I don’t know you,” Jason said.  
Leo gave him a crocodile grin. “Sure. I’m not your best friend. I’m his evil clone.”  
Jason’s breathing seemed to quicken, his chest rising and falling with a much faster pace. His forehead started sweating as Jason started to wipe his hands on his shirt. Leo felt really bad that he didn’t take his friend seriously the first time. It seemed as though Jason was on the verge of a panic attack. Regret washed over him like the long slow waves on a shallow beach. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Jason must’ve felt. The talking seemed muted as one person by one person melted back into mist, shifting into a newer scene.

Once again, Leo was in a familiar setting. They were in the looming Jack London’s dream home—a massive ruin of red and grey stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Leo could imagine how it had looked before it burned down—a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack, might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. The seven were witnessing the battle to free Hera. He saw the hunters, Leo, Piper and Jason all fighting Porphyrion, the hulking giant that was the bane of Zeus. Half flying, half leaping, the mist Jason landed on the giant’s scaly reptilian knee and climbed up the giant’s arm before Porphyrion even realized what had happened.  
“You dare?” the giant bellowed.  
Jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant’s weapon-filled braids.   
He yelled, “For Rome!” and drove the sword into the nearest convenient target—the giant’s massive ear. Lightning streaked out of the sky and blasted the sword, throwing Jason free. He rolled when he hit the ground.  
When he looked up, the giant was staggering. His hair was on fire, and the side of his face was blackened from lightning. The sword had splintered in his ear. Golden ichor ran down his jaw. The other weapons were sparking and smouldering in his braids. Porphyrion almost fell. The circle of monsters let out a collective growl and moved forward—wolves and ogres fixing their eyes on Jason.  
“No!” Porphyrion yelled. He regained his balance and glared at the demigod. “I will kill him myself.”  
The giant raised his spear and it began to glow. “You want to play with lightning, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you.” Something in Porphyrion’s voice told Leo he wasn’t bluffing even though Leo had already lived through it all.  
“Got it!” Leo yelled.  
“Sleep!” Piper said, so forcefully, the nearest wolves fell to the ground and began snoring.  
The stone and wood cage crumbled. Leo had sawed through the base of the thickest tendril and apparently cut off the cage’s connection to Gaea. The tendrils turned to dust. The mud around Hera disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.  
“Yes!” the goddess said. She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewellery. Her face was both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair. “Now I shall have my revenge!”  
The giant Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but he gave Jason one last look of hatred. His message was clear: Another time. Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he’d dropped down a chute. Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no escape for them.  
Hera glowed brighter. She shouted, “Cover your eyes, my heroes!”  
But Jason was too much in shock. He understood too late. Distantly Leo thought that they should cover their eyes but it was too late. Leo watched as Hera turned into a supernova, exploding in a ring of force that vaporized every monster instantly. The mist Jason fell, body smoking like chicken in a barbeque. Just as well none of the seven was affected.  
Leo looked at Thalia’s grim expression and recognised that this was right after they had defeated Khione and her lackeys.  
“I need to find Annabeth,” Thalia said. “She has to know what’s happened here.”  
“Thalia …” Jason gripped her hand. “We never got to talk about this place, or—”  
“I know.” Her expression softened. “I lost you here once. I don’t want to leave you again. But we’ll meet soon. I’ll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood.” She glanced at Hera. “You’ll see them there safely? It’s the least you can do.”  
“It’s not your place to tell me—”  
“Queen Hera,” Piper interceded.  
The goddess sighed. “Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!”  
Thalia walked up to Jason slowly and pulled him closer to her wrapping her arms around him. Her embrace seemed warm, and her big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around Jason’s currently weak and frail body after seeing God's true form. Thalia and Jason seemed so at peace that it must have been ten times worse when they had to let go after all those years apart. It seemed like neither Jason nor Thalia wanted to leave. It looked as though when Jason was in his older sister’s arms all his pain went away - mental and physical, mostly the depressing pain. The hug was much too short and Leo could see both of them wipe their eyes as they separated.  
“You need to stay safe for me, okay?”  
Jason laughed dryly. “Yeah, okay.”  
“Good.” Thalia punched his arm. “Because if I find out you died, I’ll get my friend Nico to bring you back just so I can kill you.”  
When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed strangely quiet. The dry reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had brought back the giant king or imprisoned Hera. The night sky was clear and starry. The wind rustled in the redwoods.

Jason slashed his gladius in a wide arc, vaporizing the nearest suitors, then he vaulted onto the table and jumped right over a ghoulish looking man’s head. In midair, he willed his blade to extend into a javelin – a trick he’d never tried with this sword – but somehow he knew it would work. He landed on his feet holding a six-foot-long pilum. As - Leo thinks Jason told him - Antinous turned to face him, Jason thrust the Imperial gold point through the ghoul’s chest.  
Antinous looked down incredulously. “You –”  
“Enjoy the Fields of Punishment.”  
Jason yanked out his pilum and Antinous crumbled to dirt. Jason kept fighting, spinning his javelin – slicing through ghosts, knocking ghouls off their feet. Across the courtyard, Annabeth fought like a demon, too. Her drakon-bone sword scythed down any suitors stupid enough to face her. Over by the sand fountain, Piper was also fighting.  
She stabbed and parried with her right hand, occasionally shooting tomatoes from the cornucopia in her left, while yelling at the suitors, “Save yourselves! I’m too dangerous!” That must have been exactly what they wanted to hear, because her opponents kept running away, only to freeze in confusion a few yards downhill, then charge back into the fight.  
Jason lifted his javelin to the sky. A bolt of lightning ricocheted off the point and blasted the ghosts to ions, leaving a smoking crater where the sand fountain had been. He summoned the winds and flung three ghouls off the side of the hill like rag dolls. He skewered a fourth, then willed his javelin to shrink back to a sword and hacked through another group of spirits. Soon no more enemies faced him. The remaining ghosts began to disappear on their own. Annabeth cut down Hasdrubal the Carthaginian, and Jason made the mistake of sheathing his sword. Leo gasped as he watched a ghost shove his sword into Jason’s lower back. So this was the incident. Jason winced as it looked like pain flared in his lower back.  
Next to his ear, Michael Varus snarled, ‘Born a Roman, die a Roman.’  
The tip of a golden sword jutted through the front of Jason’s shirt, just below his ribcage. Jason fell to his knees. Piper screamed at Annabeth to come help. Leo watched in horror as he watched Jason sway on his feet. He genuinely thought Jason was going to die. Piper charged towards him. He watched with detached emotion as her sword passed over his head and cut through Michael Varus’s armour with a metallic ka-chunk. A burst of cold parted Jason’s hair from behind. The dust settled around him, and an empty legionnaire’s helmet rolled across the stones. The evil demigod was gone – but he had made a lasting impression.  
“Jason!” Piper grabbed his shoulders as he began to fall sideways. He gasped as she pulled the sword out of his back. Then she lowered him to the ground, propping his head against a stone. Annabeth ran to their side. She had a nasty cut on the side of her neck.  
“Gods.” Annabeth stared at the wound in Jason’s gut. “Oh, gods.”  
“Thanks,” Jason groaned. “I was afraid it might be bad.”  
His shirt was soaked red. The wound was smoking. Leo was pretty sure sword wounds weren’t supposed to smoke.  
“You’re going to be fine,” Piper spoke the words like an order. Her tone steadied his breathing. “Annabeth, ambrosia!”

The mist swirled for a final time and the demigods were standing in the cavern again.  
“Damn.” Leo knocked Jason’s shoulders, trying - and failing - to relieve some tension. “That looked painful.”  
Jason was rubbing his lower back as if he could still feel the wound.  
“You don’t say.”  
“So...”  
Frank lifted his arm and pointed towards the newest door that moulded out from the walls. “My turn, I guess.”  
The door had a spear and shield, a pulsing red liquid flowing vertically through the indents. Leo noticed that it glowed brighter as Frank approached.

A sense of pride shocked Leo. He didn’t know if it was ignorance or overwhelming confidence but Leo felt...good. If his best friend can survive a sword to the back, they could survive some measly memories. Bring it on Epiales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudos!!!!


	8. Annabeth VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank's turn!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! I'm so sorry for updating this late but I've been really busy at the moment, I'll try to be better (although it is really hard to pull 6k words out onto a document in one day!) 
> 
> VERY IMPORTANT: I don't exactly know where I'm going with this fic after I write Percy's memories so if anyone wants to put suggestions down I'll gladly take notes. 
> 
> On another note... it's my birthday tomorrow!!
> 
> Okay, now on with the story. 
> 
> Kudos is greatly appreciated!

Annabeth POV: Chapter 8

Has it seriously taken you all this long?  
“How about you f--” Leo had some colourful words to say to that damn God.  
“Leo!” A red-faced Hazel exclaimed.   
Aw, poor son of Jupiter got stabbed in the back. Well, waddya gonna do, I suppose. Anyways, I just wanted to check for...reasons. How ‘bout you demigods hurry up now.  
Annabeth couldn’t wait to throttle the god the second he shows his ugly, misshapen, slimy thing he calls a face. 

After a couple of moments of silence, Frank gestured to keep going, his jaw shut and tense. No matter what Annabeth could do, they were stuck. It was frustrating, truly, to be in a position of utter compromise. Annabeth knew that in nearly every situation she has been in, there's been another option. Not now. She looked around at the other demigods each shifting on their places waiting for Frank to open the door. Annabeth wasn’t actually sure if the chosen demigod had to open the door itself or if anyone could but it didn’t matter anyway. 

Each of the seven walked through the door like prisoners tied to chains. Dust shifted in the air, illuminated by an unseen source of light. Though the rooms themselves weren’t by any means dark. In fact, each had their own specific feel to them - Hazel’s being bejewelled, Leo’s much hotter so that any damp water droplets steamed before they hit the floor, Jason’s filled with static energy. It’s unlikely anyone noticed by the way they were all transfixed on the smallish porcelain plates on the floor, but Annabeth noticed. (To be fair, Annabeth only noticed with Jason’s room because her hair started floating outwards.)  
Frank’s room didn’t seem to break the trend, Annabeth thought as she ambled in. The room, looking nearly identical to all the other dome-shaped rooms had a more red-tinted light, Mars’ influence no doubt. The room was also filled with some sort of rabid frenzy making Annabeth feel even more on edge if possible. Percy seemed to take notice of her agitation. He took hold of her sweaty palm and gripped it tight; tighter than needed but more or less comforting in the end. His hand was rough with callouses in places that Annabeth is positive that she can recognize and possibly remake if needed. 

Frank took his position on the plate at the centre of the room, nodding his head in trepidation back to the group. As the smoke filled the room once again Annabeth took in a deep breath and... waited.

“Fai?” An elderly woman asked. “Fai, come now. Sit here.”  
A small scrawny woman sat on a plush leather chair by an old-fashioned fireplace. As the fire danced, it lit up her face as she somberly patted the chair opposite hers. The small grey bun on top of her head was so tight that it pulled the skin back giving her a strained look as if trying to hide the wrinkles. Her nose was a hawk’s beak, her small eyes were sharp as she scanned the bare room. She looked sad, masses of unshed tears in her glassy eyes waited in glops. A loose blouse hung from her bones and a long skirt fell over her legs.   
“Grandmother? Is there--is there something wrong?” Frank asked as he sat himself opposite her, their knees nearly touching.   
The woman, Frank’s Grandma, Annabeth supposed, let out a sigh and fraily grasped both of his hands in hers. She stuttered for a second, seemingly losing the words she tried to speak. She leaned back and pulled out a picture from her cardigan pocket. It was a picture of a beautiful Asian woman with her hands on Frank’s shoulders, bright smiles lighting up the page. Annabeth felt her heart jump up her throat. She knew what happened here.   
“Y-your mother, she passed away.” Frank’s Grandmother burst into tears as an equally teary Frank kept up to comfort her. Both were in a tight embrace as she continued to speak. “Your mother was such a strong woman who cared about those around her. She was very protective of you but she also had a strong sense of duty.” She hiccuped before starting again. “She--she stayed behind her team in Afghanistan and fought off the enemy, allowing her allies to escape at the cost of her own life.”  
“Grandmother..”  
“She was so, so strong. She saved so many lives, Fai.”   
“She’s gone?”  
“No, no. She’ll be with you forever and ever, looking over you with the rest of our ancestors. Just know that she loved you so much.”  
The duo was wrapped up in each other's arms as tears shamelessly fell from their closed eyes. It was enough to make Annabeth nearly tear up. Yes, Annabeth never had “loving” parents but losing one must be so hard to even think about. When the words would not come, the tears did. The mourning had started and Annabeth was sure that losing a parent would be worth heart-wrenching sobs and running snot and all that comes with grieving. 

The scene shifted and Annabeth found herself now outside. The cold air bit at her cheeks and nose whilst the trees surrounding the group cast soft shadows over the grass. The shadows weren’t by any means scary, they instead framed their surroundings with dark shapes. The seven stood in a garden that was overrun with nature. Wildflowers bloom out of the ground in an array of colours, vivid blues and greens and lilacs. It was quite unusual, Annabeth thought, seeing as wherever they were was most likely in the middle of spring, too early for flowers to be in full growth to this magnitude. The group was standing on a hill overlooking a ceremony. From what Annabeth could see, it was most likely a funeral of sorts for Frank’s mother. An influx of people dressed in black were gathered at the bottom of the hill, too far away for Annabeth to hear anything except for muted cries and hushed words of comfort.   
“What is it that you brought me here for, Grandmother?” A voice asked as it came closer and closer to the demigods.   
Frank and his grandmother soon came into view. They didn’t seem much different from the last memory, only a change of wardrobe to a depressing black. Frank’s Grandmother wore a black frock that fell from her body similar to a potato sack with a coat hanging over the top of her hunched shoulders. Frank seemed smart in his black suit but even his clothes couldn’t make up for his hair that stuck out at all angles and tear tracks that ran down his face.   
“Grandmother?”  
Annabeth turned her body as the pair walked past. Mist Frank seemed distressed as he walked alongside the older woman who wasn’t slowing down.   
“Fai, there’s something I need to tell you.”  
She took a breath.   
“Y-your father...how to say? He’s…a...very powerful man. A man who is similar to your mother with the way he commands.”  
“You know my father?”  
“I never met him. Just heard stories, very old stories.”  
“Is-is he here?”  
The grandmother sighed, “no. He’s not..allowed to engage in these sorts of affairs.”  
They paused. Frank taking in all the information and his Grandmother bracing herself for a series of questions.   
“Fai, what do you know about Roman mythology?”  
“Only the stuff Mom told me about. Why?”  
“Our family stems from many lines of ancient power. I myself am from this line. My father, Shen Lun, was a demigod. A son of Neptune. You, my child, are a child of Mars, god of war.”  
“Wh-”  
“You must trust me when I say this. I know it sounds mad. Hell, I wouldn’t believe myself either. But ever since you were born, you were destined for power. Power that some say is too much. Here,” His grandmother passed Frank firewood. It was small enough to grip steadily in his hand, it was rectangular and would make a great fire starter due to the dryness.   
“You have to trust me. This firewood is linked to your life, Fai. This burns, you burn. Simple as that. And I cannot deny you the right to know that there will be a time, if not many, where you may burn. I cannot tell you if you live up to greatness like your father, or great grandfather, or mother. But you must trust me. Demigods live dangerously, there is only a chance you will survive. But you have your mother in you, which makes you a fighter and fight you must.”  
Silence.   
“Come tomorrow, your life will change. I cannot shield you from this world any longer. Lupa, the goddess of wolves and trainer of demigods, will take you from me. She will make sure you survive. She will introduce you to this world better than I ever can.”  
Frank stilled, ready to walk away. His eyes glistened with more tears.   
“So you're kicking me out.” It wasn’t a question.   
Frank’s Grandmother turned away and walked towards the bottom of the hill, “Yes. Pack your bags, Lupa is coming.”

The wind blew Annabeth’s hair into her face as the scene shifted. She was standing near the entrance of a tunnel near - what she believed to be - the entrance of New Rome. A series of grunts were heard by Annabeth first. The seven fidgeted worriedly, each person’s face a different picture of a grimace. Jason, Hazel and Percy all seemed to immediately recognise this part of the entrance of New Rome. Annabeth had only realised because she did extensive recon before going in to fetch Percy all those weeks ago. Frank was only staring in the direction of a couple of tall trees, the branches shaking immensely scattering the leaves across the asphalt road.   
“Oh, son of a Cephalopod!” Shouted a voice as a blur of a body fell out of the trees and down onto the road.   
Mist Frank seemed to be injured as long gashes stemmed from his elbow down to his palm. His shirt was ripped at the neck and the lower half of his legs were covered in thick mud. He stumbled along the road, limping to the entrance of the tunnel. Out of the trees behind him crawled a two-headed dog. Both heads were as terrifying as the other as it opened its mouths and rows of jagged teeth jut out. The dog heads foamed at the mouth as it spotted the wounded Frank making his way further into the tunnel. Annabeth recognised the hound from Greek mythology, seemingly Roman too as it chased the Roman demigod. It was Orthrus who was the two-headed dog who guarded Geryon's cattle and was killed by Heracles. Annabeth remembered it was one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon and the brother of Cerberus. Annabeth absently thought about the dog down in the underworld as she gazed at the beast who was quickly making its way towards Frank. It was much larger than an average dog but not nearly as big as Cerberus. Orthrus was covered in scratches and a number of arrows stuck out of it’s back, the points being concealed by a thick skin and a coat of brown and black fur. Annabeth found the transportation of the mist quite pleasant, actually. As the seven watched Frank slowly being gained upon by the two-headed hound, they were standing upright as the ground underneath them blurs along with their movements. There was no need to walk to catch up on the unfolding scene as the group seamlessly followed the struggling demigod. Suddenly, catching the rest of the group off guard, the dog pounced upon Frank, jumping a lengthy 10 meters or so. It landed upon Frank with such force it knocked the son of Mars down, it’s claws digging into his arms drawing blood. Mist Frank turned his head from the jaws of both heads, closing his eyes as if to accept his fate. Just before the heads could take a bite out of paw Frank, an arrow shot clean through the beast, gold dust exploding like a bomb. It was so fast Annabeth wasn’t able to pick her jaw off the ground as fast as she would’ve liked.   
A figure came out of a stone door moulded from the walls of the tunnel. The figure - seemingly a young girl - walked out and grabbed Frank by the arm. Her pink hair protruded from her helmet that was placed upon her head and she had a chest plate and poleyn that covered her purple shirt and jeans. She removed her helmet and smiled brightly; too brightly for Annabeth’s liking.   
She stuck her hand out to the panting demigod, “welcome to Camp Jupiter, c’mon in.” She gestured to the door before shoving Frank in. 

The seven found themselves standing in a very cramped space. Annabeth actually found herself standing in a wall, the same with Hazel and Leo. A mist version of Frank, Percy and Hazel were all standing in an attic filled to the brim with an assortment of weapons. They ranged from machine guns to medieval flails and Indonesia Kukris. Annabeth saw the mist Percy frown before he began to speak, continuing the threesome’s cut off conversation.   
“Frank—”   
“Give us your answer, Frank Zhang!” an ogre yelled up from the ground.   
Annabeth looked around in wonder. The nice house they were standing in, old and rustic yet had some beautiful architecture sprinkled in the curved of the roof slats and stiff patio columns, was completely surrounded with Laistrygonian Giants.   
“Come down, and we will spare the others—your friends, your poor old granny. We only want you!” “They’re lying,” Percy muttered.   
“Yeah, I got that,” Frank agreed.  
“Go!” Hazel and Percy ran for the ladder that was in the middle of the wooden floor.   
Frank grinned and yelled, “Hey, down there! Who’s hungry?”   
The ogres cheered as Frank paced along the widow’s walk and waved like a rock star. The ogres started to become restless. The cheering turned to catcalls. A few Laistrygonians hefted their cannonballs.   
“Hold on!” Frank yelled. “You don’t want to char me, do you? I won’t taste very good that way.”   
“Come down!” they yelled. “Hungry!”  
“Do you promise to spare my friends?” Frank asked. “Do you swear on the River Styx?”   
The ogres laughed. One threw a cannonball that arced over Frank’s head and blew up the chimney. By some miracle, Frank wasn’t hit with shrapnel.   
“I’ll take that as a no,” he muttered. Then he shouted down: “Okay, fine! You win! I’ll be right down. Wait there!”   
The ogres cheered, but - who Annabeth thought was their leader in the lion’s-skin cape - scowled suspiciously. Frank wouldn’t have much time. He descended the ladder into the attic. He grabbed an extra quiver of arrows labelled assorted varieties, then he ran to the machine gun. He swivelled the barrel, took aim at the lead ogre, and pressed the trigger. Eight high powered spuds blasted the giant in the chest, propelling him backwards with such force that he crashed into a stack of bronze cannonballs, which promptly exploded, leaving a smoking crater in the yard. While the rest of the monsters ran around in confusion, Frank pulled his bow and rained arrows on them. Some of the missiles detonated on impact. Others splintered like buckshot and left the giants with some painful new tattoos. One hit an ogre and instantly turned him into a potted rosebush. Unfortunately, the ogres recovered quickly. They began throwing cannonballs— dozens at a time. The whole house groaned under the impact. Frank ran for the stairs. The attic disintegrated behind him. Smoke and fire poured down the second-floor hallway. “Grandmother!” he cried, but the heat was so intense, he couldn’t reach a room at the end of a short hallway.   
He raced to the ground floor, clinging to the bannister as the house shook and huge chunks of the ceiling collapsed. The base of the staircase was a smoking crater. He leapt over it and stumbled through the kitchen. Choking from the ash and soot, he burst into the garage. A Cadillac’s headlights were on, the engine was running and the garage door was opening.   
“Get in!” Percy yelled. Frank dove in the back next to Hazel.   
Ella the harpy was curled up in the front, her head tucked under her wings, muttering, “Yikes. Yikes. Yikes.”   
Percy gunned the engine. They shot out of the garage before it was fully open, leaving a Cadillac-shaped hole of splintered wood. The ogres ran to intercept, but Percy shouted at the top of his lungs, and the irrigation system exploded. A hundred geysers shot into the air along with clods of dirt, pieces of pipe, and very heavy sprinkler heads. The Cadillac was going about forty when they hit the first ogre, who disintegrated on impact. By the time the other monsters overcame their confusion, the Cadillac was half a mile down the road. Flaming cannonballs burst behind them. Annabeth diverted her attention from the escape car to the family mansion that was on fire, the walls were collapsing inward and smoke was billowing into the sky. A large black speck—maybe a buzzard— circled up from the fire and escaped through a window.  
“Grandmother?” Frank murmured as the mist in the scene changed once more. 

“Watch your fire, boy,” a man, who could only be a god, warned. His skin was the colour of teakwood, dark and glistening. His eyes were as honey-gold as Hazel’s. He was lean and muscular, with a regal face and black hair flowing down his shoulders. His wings glimmered in shades of blue, black, and purple. This, Annabeth thought, was surely Cupid but due to circumstances, it was most likely Thanatos. “You don’t have any to waste.”   
Frank cursed. He moved his fire to the shackles on the god’s right hand. The piece of tinder was almost half gone now. The third chain snapped. Frank thrust the tinder at the last shackle. Frank seemed to be shivering with pain but his eyes were far away as if he were seeing things. Percy was at the end of the Via Principalis, holding off the army of ghosts. He’d overturned the chariot and destroyed several buildings, but every time he threw off a wave of attackers in his hurricane, the ghosts simply got up and charged again. Every time Percy slashed one of them down with his sword, the ghost re-formed immediately. Percy had backed up almost as far as he could go. Behind him was the side gate of the camp, and about twenty feet beyond that, the edge of the glacier. As for Hazel, she and a golden giant, Alcyoneus, had managed to destroy most of the barracks in their battle. Now they were fighting in the wreckage at the main gate.   
Finally, Death’s last chain snapped. With a desperate yelp, Frank jabbed his firewood into a pile of snow and extinguished the flame. When he took out the piece of tinder, it was no more than a stub, smaller than a candy bar.   
Thanatos raised his arms. “Free,” he said with satisfaction.   
“Great.” Frank blinked the spots from his eyes. “Then do something!”   
Thanatos gave him a calm smile. “Do something? Of course. I will watch. Those who die in this battle will stay dead.”   
“Thanks,” Frank muttered, slipping his firewood into his coat. “Very helpful.”  
“You’re most welcome,” Thanatos said agreeably.   
“Percy!” Frank yelled. “They can die now!”   
Percy nodded understanding, but he looked worn out. His hurricane was slowing down. His strikes were getting slower. The entire ghostly army had him surrounded, gradually forcing him toward the edge of the glacier. Frank drew his bow to help. He took one step toward Percy. Then, from across the camp, Hazel yelled in pain.   
“Hazel!” Frank glanced back at Percy with anguish on his face.  
“Go help her!” Percy yelled, holding the golden eagle aloft. “I’ve got these guys!”   
Frank looked uncertain but proceeded to leave Mist Percy anyway. Hazel was half-buried in a collapsed pile of snow-bricks. A horse stood over her, trying to protect her, rearing and swatting at the giant with his front hooves.   
The giant laughed. “Hello, little pony. You want to play?” Alcyoneus raised his icy staff.   
Frank was too far away to help…but he pushed himself forward nevertheless, his feet leaving the ground. His body became smaller and lighter. His arms stretched into wings, and his sight became a thousand times sharper. He soared upward, then dove at the giant with his talons extended, his razor-sharp claws raking across the giant’s eyes. Alcyoneus bellowed in pain. He staggered backwards as Frank landed in front of Hazel and returned to his normal form.   
“Frank…” She stared at him in amazement, a cap of snow dripping off her head. “What just…how did—?” “Fool!” Alcyoneus shouted. His face was slashed, black oil dripping into his eyes instead of blood, but the wounds were already closing. “I am immortal in my homeland, Frank Zhang! And thanks to your friend Hazel, my new homeland is Alaska. You cannot kill me here!”   
“We’ll see,” Frank said. “Hazel, get back on your horse.”   
The giant charged, and Frank charged to meet him. As he ran, his body became heavier, thicker, rippling with muscles. He crashed into the giant as a full-grown grizzly, a thousand pounds of pure force. He was still small compared to Alcyoneus, but he slammed into the giant with such momentum, Alcyoneus toppled into an icy watchtower that collapsed on top of him. Frank sprang at the giant’s head. A swipe of his claw was like a heavyweight fighter swinging a chain saw. Frank bashed the giant’s face back and forth until his metallic features began to dent.   
“Urgg,” the giant mumbled in a stupor. Frank changed to his regular form. His backpack was still with him. He grabbed the rope he’d bought in Seward, quickly made a noose, and fastened it around the giant’s scaly dragon foot.  
“Hazel, here!” He tossed her the other end of the rope. “I’ve got an idea, but we’ll have to—” “Kill—uh—you—uh…” Alcyoneus muttered. Frank ran to the giant’s head, picked up the nearest heavy object he could find—a legion shield—and slammed it into the giant’s nose.   
The giant said, “Urgg.” Frank looked back at Hazel. “How far can Arion pull this guy?”   
Hazel just stared at him. “You—you were a bird. Then a bear. And—”  
“I’ll explain later,” Frank said. “We need to drag this guy inland, as fast and far as we can.”   
“But Percy!” Hazel said. Frank cursed. Through the ruins of the camp, Annabeth could see Percy with his back to the edge of the cliff. His hurricane was gone. He held Riptide in one hand and the legion’s golden eagle in the other. The entire army of shades edged forward, their weapons bristling.   
“Percy!” Frank yelled.   
Percy glanced over. He saw the fallen giant and seemed to understand what was happening. He yelled something that was lost in the wind, probably: Go! Then he slammed Riptide into the ice at his feet. The entire glacier shuddered. Ghosts fell to their knees. Behind Percy, a wave surged up from the bay—a wall of gray water even taller than the glacier. Water shot from the chasms and crevices in the ice. As the wave hit, the back half of the camp crumbled. The entire edge of the glacier peeled away, cascading into the void—carrying buildings, ghosts, and Percy over the edge. The last images Annabeth could see before the scene shifted again were the horrified faces of Hazel and Frank. 

Annabeth was now on the deck of the Argo II. Frank was staring at Hazel with worry laced on his face as she paced around the deck, her hands pushed into her thick hair. She paused for a moment just before Frank looked like he was about to speak.   
“‘Arion.”   
“What?” Nico asked.   
Leo let out a happy whoop as the dust cloud got closer. “It’s her horse, man! You missed that whole part. We haven’t seen him since Kansas!”  
Hazel laughed, sounding thick and rumbly, like the first time she’d laughed in days. About a mile to the north, the small beige dot circled a hill and stopped at the summit. He was difficult to make out, but when the horse reared and whinnied the sound carried all the way to the Argo II.   
“We have to meet him,” she said. “He’s here to help.”   
“Yeah, okay.” Leo scratched his head. “But, uh, we talked about not landing the ship on the ground any more, remember? You know, with Gaia wanting to destroy us and all.”   
“Just get me close, and I’ll use the rope ladder. I think Arion wants to tell me something.”   
Frank got up and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hazel, is this the best thing to be doing?”  
“What do you mean?”  
Frank sighed and shifted uncomfortably. “I mean, do you think it's a good idea to split off at the moment?”  
Hazel rubbed her neck and turned away, gazing out at the ground below them as Leo moved the sip closer to the horse. “I’ll-I’ll be careful.”  
She reached up and kissed him on the cheek before turning away and walking towards the ladder.   
The group watched Mist Frank as we watched Hazel leave. The entire atmosphere was thick with tension, a sort of buzz in the air of wrongdoing. It seemed everyone could feel it as Nico walked awkwardly to pat Frank on the back.   
“She’ll be fine…”  
Frank nodded as he watched Hazel’s figure walk further and further away from the safety of the Argo. They watched as Hazel jumped upon Arion and travelled into the countryside until the duo was only a speck in the distance.  
Frank let out a shaky breath, “I don’t like the feel of this…”

A grubby looking Nico Di Angelo and Frank ran into a dark room. In Frank’s arms was an unconscious Hazel and in front of the duo was a handsome man in jeans. As soon as their host threw the bolts, the cow monsters bellowed and slammed into the door, making it shudder on its hinges.   
“Oh, they can’t get in,” the man in denim promised. “You’re safe now!”   
“Safe?” Frank demanded. “Hazel is dying!”   
Their host frowned as if he didn’t appreciate Frank ruining his good mood.   
“Yes, yes. Bring her this way.”   
Frank carried Hazel as they followed the man further into the building. Nico offered to help, but Frank didn’t seem to need it. Annabeth could see Hazel shivering, so at least she knew she was alive, but her skin looked cold. Her lips had taken on a greenish tinge and if Annabeth didn’t feel the real Hazel standing next to her, she’d think she was dead for real. The house’s front room was some sort of greenhouse. The walls were lined with tables of plant trays under fluorescent lights. The air smelled of fertilizer solution. Maybe Venetians did their gardening inside since they were surrounded by water instead of soil? Annabeth wasn’t sure, but she didn’t spend much time worrying about it. The backroom looked like a combination garage, college dorm and computer lab. Against the left wall glowed a bank of servers and laptops, their screensavers flashing pictures of ploughed fields and tractors. Against the right wall was a single bed, a messy desk and an open wardrobe filled with extra denim clothes and a stack of farm implements, like pitchforks and rakes. The back wall was a huge garage door. Parked next to it was a red-and-gold chariot with an open carriage and a single axle, like the chariots Annabeth had seen being raced at Camp Jupiter. Sprouting from the sides of the driver’s box were giant feathery wings. Wrapped around the rim of the left wheel, a spotted python snored loudly.   
“Set your friend here,” said the man in denim.   
Frank placed Hazel gently on the bed. He removed her sword and tried to make her comfortable, but she was as limp as a scarecrow.   
“What were those cow things?” Frank demanded, his lip wobbling precariously. “What did they do to her?”   
“Katoblepones,” said their host. “Singular: katobleps. In English, it means down-looker. Called that because –”   
“They’re always looking down.” Nico smacked his forehead. “Right. I remember reading about them.”   
Frank glared at him. “Now you remember?”   
Nico hung his head almost as low as a katobleps. “I, uh … used to play this stupid card game when I was younger. Mythomagic. The katobleps was one of the monster cards.”   
Frank blinked. “I played Mythomagic. I never saw that card.”   
“It was in the Africanus Extreme expansion deck.”   
“Oh.”  
Their host cleared his throat. “Are you two done, ah, geeking out, as they say?”   
“Right, sorry,” Nico muttered.   
“Anyway, katoblepones have poison breath and a poison gaze. I thought they only lived in Africa.” The man in denim shrugged. “That’s their native land. They were accidentally imported to Venice hundreds of years ago. You’ve heard of Saint Mark?”  
“Saints? They’re not part of Greek mythology.”  
The man in denim chuckled. “No, but Saint Mark is the patron saint of this city. He died in Egypt, oh, a long time ago. When the Venetians became powerful … well, the relics of saints were a big tourist attraction back in the Middle Ages. The Venetians decided to steal Saint Mark’s remains and bring them to their big church of San Marco. They smuggled out his body in a barrel of pickled pig parts.”  
“That’s … disgusting,” Frank said.   
“Yes,” the man agreed with a smile. “The point is you can’t do something like that and not have consequences. The Venetians unintentionally smuggled something else out of Egypt – the katoblepones. They came here aboard that ship and have been breeding like rats ever since. They love the magical poison roots that grow here – swampy, foul-smelling plants that creep up from the canals. It makes their breath even more poisonous! Usually, the monsters ignore mortals, but demigods … especially demigods who get in their way –”   
“Got it,” Frank snapped. “Can you cure her?”   
The man shrugged. “Possibly.”   
‘“Possibly?” Frank looked like he had to use all his willpower not to throttle the guy. He put his hand under Hazel’s nose. He couldn’t feel her breath. “Nico, please tell me she’s doing that death-trance thing, like you did in the bronze jar.”   
Nico grimaced. “I don’t know if Hazel can do that. Her dad is technically Pluto, not Hades, so –”   
“Hades!” cried their host. He backed away, staring at Nico with distaste. “So that’s what I smell. Children of the Underworld? If I’d known that, I would never have let you in!”   
Frank rose. “Hazel’s a good person. You promised you would help her!”   
“I did not promise.”  
Nico drew his sword. “She’s my sister,” he growled. “I don’t know who you are, but if you can cure her you have to, or so help me by the River Styx –”   
“Oh, blah, blah, blah!” The man waved his hand. Suddenly where Nico di Angelo had been standing was a potted plant about five feet tall, with drooping green leaves, tufts of silk and half a dozen ripe yellow ears of corn. “There,” the man huffed, wagging his finger at the corn plant. “Children of Hades can’t order me around! You should talk less and listen more. Now at least you have ears.”

The group was once again in the dome of a cave and Annabeth let out a breath of relief. Only three to go...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT: I don't exactly know where I'm going with this fic after I write Percy's memories so if anyone wants to put suggestions down I'll gladly take notes. 
> 
> Kudos is greatly appreciated!


	9. Jason IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! This is much shorter than usual! Also, this is kinda a filler because I wanted to break up the memories with some "exercise".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I was annoyed that I didn’t get to write as much as I would have wanted so here’s quite a short chapter. I didn’t want to make you guys wait so I’ve posted what I wrote here. I’ll definitely update before the end of the week though. 
> 
> Again, thank you all for your support and please leave a kudos/comment!
> 
> Xxx
> 
> (Also, I’m not sure how to end this fanfic so if anyone wants to give suggestions, my inbox is open!)

Jason POV: Chapter 9

Jason was counting down the seconds till he could leave. He’d also settle for blasting Epiales’ head off - what, with his constant commentary after Frank’s room. 

I didn’t know the fatty son of Mars had it in him. 

Please, just shut up. Jason thought. None of the seven dignified the god with a response as Piper’s door moulded out of the cavern wall. Frank just rolled his eyes. The dove sign was lit up by a neon pink light that flowed throughout the grooves, pissing Piper off immensely because, and Jason quotes, “Why am I always stuck with pink?”.

Excuse me, demigods? Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore a divine being? Back when I had my worshippers, they were afraid that I would send them into insanity just because I felt like it. You lot should be terrified. 

Jason grit his teeth together, surely cracking his back teeth with the force put on them. Ignore him, ignore him. He caught sight of Piper eyeing Leo, who looked like he was about to explode with the way he was biting back his bitter words. Shame rolled through Jason quickly as he remembered a couple of rooms ago. Of all the memories so far, Jason was surprised with Leo. He felt like he epically failed as a friend. He never knew of Leo’s mother’s - ahem - unfortunate demise. He wondered what his mother would say if she saw him right now. It wasn't possible, of course. She was long dead, those memories only reminded him. Mountains upon mountains of pressure threatened to rip the pit of his stomach, to rip open the disgusting truth of demigod-ness. He was no stranger to loss but Jason naively thought that maybe his friends had a smidgen of a better family life than him. Jason’s usual solemn frown graced his face once more. He could almost feel the bags under his eyes, somewhat making Jason feel weirdly self-conscious. The demigods all went through the door, each sporting their own irritated faces; Percy’s being by far the scariest. Jason expected the now-familiar plate to be placed in the centre of the room but, much to Jason’s surprise, there was nothing there. It put a wrench in Jason’s thoughts of getting this all over.   
Jason heard Annabeth curse under her breath that was much too colourful for his liking. As if a switch flipped, the room was flipped with some sort of danger. There was a terrible rumble from deep in the belly of the earth that struck fear into Jason’s heart. It didn’t seem like your usual earthquake, the ground shook so much that a large crack appeared in the ground, enough for a fully grown adult to fall all the way to the depths of Tartarus. Jason cringed.   
“Hazel? Percy?” Annabeth pulled out her dagger warily, “you’re not doing this?”   
Percy lifted his arms up in a surrender motion, “not me.”   
“Me neither.”  
Stupid demigods.  
Then a series of ominous scraping noises echoes up from the crack in the floor, each sound more sinister than the next.   
“Epiales! You’re kidding right?” Shouted Leo up at the ceiling of the dome.  
“Jason watch out!” Frank pulled an arrow back.   
Jason instinctively ducked and rolled out the way as he saw a rock flying directly at where his head was. Frank’s arrow hit the rock right in the middle causing it to explode into rubble. The seven each pulled their weapons out of their respective sheaths, Jason himself as he reached for his sword.   
Jason felt a pang of unwavering fear attack his heart as he caught sight of the monsters that crawled out of the crack. Words couldn’t describe how they looked, nor how they made Jason feel. It was much like he was watching the scariest horror films of all history all at once. His heart was flooded with adrenaline but he was too terrified to move. Pain seared through his head better than a branding iron, his mind conceding to the torment, unable to bring a thought to completion. Screams filled his head like he was hearing a group of people massacred, but they sounded far away, maybe like they were underwater or something. Jason couldn’t tear his eyes away from the monsters slinking their way towards the group. They had large hulking bodies, each misshapen and never similar to the others, with green skin rippling across taut muscles. Their mouths were like black holes, a mixture of tiny and large rotted teeth sprinkled around their mouths with rich red blood dripping down what would have been their chins. One monster had six claws on one hand and three on the other, whilst another had ten long nails sticking out on the left and basically a stump on the right. Their eyes were the only similarity they shared. Both pairs of eyes were a foggy white that seemed to stare into Jason’s soul. Jason could distantly feel himself being pulled away. Jason could only stare helplessly at the monsters as he was moved back into Frank’s room. The door, Jason noticed, hadn’t disappeared like the others which seemed way too convenient. Once he dimly registered all six other demigods were safely back in the room, what looked like Piper shut the door behind her. Instantly Jason felt better. He no longer heard the phantom screams ringing in his ears, or had a searing pain in his head, or felt completely defenceless. He realised with a startle that he could now move freely.   
“What the styx was that?” Percy shouted as he flung his arms up frantically. He was in a similar position as the rest of the group, all facing the now closed door belonging to the daughter of Aphrodite.   
“I-I don’t know.” Piper stammered. “I saw you all freeze the moment you saw the-those things. I could move, but it was like I was in a trance or something. I don’t-I don’t know what happened.”  
The group was forced into silence while they all caught their breaths.   
“Why weren’t you affected then?” Leo demanded.   
Annabeth rubbed her eyes with her palms then spoke, “I suppose Piper could regulate her emotions”, she narrowed her eyes, “with all the daughter of Aphrodite stuff. You are related to Phobos and Deimos too, gods of fear. Pavor and Metus for Romans.”  
Jason heard Percy mutter something along the lines of “bastards” and “bullies”. He didn’t want to ask.   
“Well, what are we supposed to do? We can’t exactly go out there lest we want to be paralyzed and then crushed to smithereens.” Jason put forward.   
Leo gestured for Annabeth to take the stage, it seemed like he was mocking her but his face betrayed his joking as his forehead was covered in worried lines.   
Annabeth took a breath. “First things first: what do we have? Frank any exploding arrows? Leo any building supplies? Hazel, what grasp of the earth do you have? Do we have any spare fabric? Frank, any animals good for blind fighting?”  
“I have my grenade form arrows and I suppose I could change to a bat for the--”  
“That’s great! Hazel? Leo? Anything?”  
“Nope.” Leo shook his head in an exaggerated manner, “I didn’t think to bring anything but my tool belt, I guess. But I could always toast some monsters like marshmallows.”  
“The pull of the earth is pretty normal; no Gaia tampering.”  
Annabeth looked distant as her eyes scanned around the room as if she were reading battleplans. Her breathing slowed. It unnerved Jason how she was able to freeze with such precision; she looked like a statue. She didn’t flinch as the monsters banged the door on the other side nor did she blink when Piper and Hazel started to rip strips of fabric from the bottom of their shirts. Jason looked at Piper wearily as he waited for Annabeth’s input. She ripped the bottom hem of her shirt clean off and when she caught him looking, lifted it to her head and covered her eyes. It took Jason a couple of seconds before realising what it meant. It appears Leo did not, however.   
“Dude, what are you doing?”  
Piper sighed, “we need blindfolds. Now we have them.”  
“Ah, okay. Makes sense. I just thought you were going all savage for a sec.”  
It was quiet for some time after that. 

It couldn’t have been more than three minutes of twiddling thumbs but to Jason, it felt like eternity. Percy was murmuring to Annabeth who still stood tall and unbothered. Like a true goddess. When Percy spoke to Annabeth, she just looked forward as if he were a radio and not a person who is there to be interacted with. It is as if the words are still circulating her mind and not yet allowed to flow outward into the world. It reminded him a lot of Reyna, who he hadn’t thought about in quite a while. At least, not since she, Nico and Coach Hedge left with the parthenos.   
The awkward pause was quickly broken by Annabeth and her plans, seemingly making up her mind about something.  
“Right, so to start off, Piper, you’ll be our eyes. It makes the most sense, what with you being able to see perfectly. Leo, you’ll stand by the door before we all go in and blast them with your fire. Many monsters with thick skin aren’t affected by fire but we may be lucky here. Those of us - myself included - are rendered practically useless with the inability to see, especially with creatures that could easily crush us. Hazel, is there anyway you could somehow open up the crack in the ground more? I understand actually manipulating earth can be challenging but with no set way for us to kill them, sending the monsters back down the cavern may be our best bet. With what limited sight I had, I counted at least four of them out there. Piper can you somehow charm speak them into sleep?”  
Piper took a breath, “I could try. I’m not sure how well it will end though.”  
“That’s fine.” Annabeth tightened her ponytail behind her head. “These things, I’m not familiar with them. They’re not in the Greek, and by default nor Roman, pantheon. We just need to be extra careful.” Piper and Hazel held out a couple of the makeshift blindfolds to Annabeth who promptly weighed them in her hands as if determining their worth. “After Leo hits them with fire, hopefully, this will be enough to briefly incapacitate them while Piper directs Frank where to aim with his arrows. The rest of us can attack them in any way we can while still being safe and acting careful.” She cast a pointed look at Percy who looked like he might object but decided against it. “After, Frank, you’ll advance as a bat and use your senses to fight them somehow. We all need to make do with what we got.” She passed out the blindfolds to all of the seven except Piper. “These are just an extra precaution - can’t have ourselves paralysed.”  
The group nodded and started to rear themselves for a fight. Jason secured his own band of fabric to his forehead, the grey fabric of Piper’s shirt ready to be pulled down to make him temporarily blind. He pulled out his sword and waited next to Annabeth and Hazel on the left side of the door, while Percy, Frank and Piper waited on the other. Leo was standing in front of the door with his palms outstretched, beads of sweat rolling down his scrunched forehead. Jason could already see the heat waves rolling out from his palms. Unease blossomed from within him; as brilliantly as Proserpina makes spring. Jason was familiar with the adrenaline pumping through his veins but there was something different now as something in his head was telling him to run. 

Annabeth gave a nod to Piper opposite her, her silver eyes glinting dangerously. Piper reached for the doors and pulled them open with a flourish then rolled away with ease and agility. The fight had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudos! 
> 
> (Also, I’m not sure how to end this fanfic so if anyone wants to give suggestions, my inbox is open!)


	10. Piper X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of stuff goin' down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry this is later than I promised but it's also much longer than I planned it to be. It's kinda two chapters rolled in one.   
> Thank you all for your patience and support!!!
> 
> Please leave a kudos! Now...enjoy!
> 
> IMPORTANT: Please tell me whose perspective you want to see Percy's memories in because I have no clue.

Piper POV: Chapter 10

Piper didn’t really comprehend anything after she opened the doors. She ducked and rolled away from the doors that were being slowly pushed in by the--the things. As she got behind Percy, she saw the demigods lower their blindfolds and outstretch their weapons. Leo scrunched his face up as if he was to the toilet. Piper shuddered, she didn’t need to think about that now. The fire flashed into existence in a wash of red and yellow sparks from his outstretched palms. Piper, as the only one of the seven who could actually see, watched as the flames ripped their way through the door and next room over, tendrils of smoke reaching desperately into the roof of the cavern. The beasts, four hulking figures, were immediately caught off guard. They lifted their arms to block out the waves of flames coming towards them and Piper strained her eyes to watch as they panted in pain. Their swollen muscles were singed and soot coated each of them like a blanket; they were, unfortunately, more or less unharmed. 

“Go, go, go!” Annabeth called.   
Piper turned to Frank and shouted in his ears where to aim with his arrows. “To the left!” and “to the right!” She moved him by the doors and cried, “listen out for me!” This gave Piper an opportunity to shout directions at him while also telling the fighters - Annabeth, Jason, Percy and Hazel - where to hit. Piper walked into the room like the floor would give out under her body mass. Piper felt her pulse quicken as she watched Hazel with her back to the group as she pressed her hands to the ground near the crack in the cave. The air was filled with perspiration and blood, even if none was spilt yet.   
“Jason! To the left!” He rolled to the left to avoid a swing at a cut-up monster.   
Flurries of arrows were shot out from the doors where Frank and Leo were working on aiming at a monster then pulling out to not be paralysed. Leo and Frank were an amazing team, Piper saw. Frank’s flaming arrows were aimed at the slow-moving monsters without his blindfold but before he could be petrified, Leo pulled him back and made him let go of the arrow. A plan Annabeth would be proud of, Piper thought. She absently saw Leo’s blindfold being slowly blackened from his scorching skin, probably from adrenaline.   
“Annabeth! Stab in front of you, then move to the right!” Somehow, Percy was able to knock one of the monsters to the ground, a couple of meters away from where Annabeth was facing. With Annabeth’s drakon bone sword being thrust into the giant creature’s neck, the thing died. Its eyes lost the milkiness that came with them as they became a dark brown, showing its death. The duo didn’t seem to realise it had succumbed to its injuries as they each slashed the beast until Piper had to say it was over.   
Piper screamed herself hoarse to Jason, Hazel and Annabeth - where to strike and where to escape the monsters’ own attacks - whilst simultaneously keeping a lookout for herself and attacking when she could as well as making sure Leo and Frank were okay. 

There was something wrong though. Well, not exactly wrong, just weird. It confused Piper as she had never seen it in the Son of Poseidon before. Percy didn’t need Piper’s help to locate the monsters. Piper supposes she should feel amazement, which she did in a way. But Percy had no trouble leaping towards the enemy with a blindfold on with a face of utter nonchalance, riptide cutting deadly arches and cutting deep wounds. Every time Piper shouted for Percy to move away so he could regroup and get ready for his next attack, he just parried whatever hit the monster swung at him.

It didn’t make sense. 

Piper could feel her sweat running down her back and her eyebrows pinched violently together. She forced herself to focus back onto the other demigods who were no longer struggling with the lack of sight. They seemed to have gotten the hang of listening to the monsters’ heavy footsteps to anticipate where next to go, the deep breaths signalling where they were facing and the putrid smell that came with the beings. They, of course, didn’t have the precision that Percy had but it was...decent. Slowly, long after Piper had yelled until her throat was raw, the remaining three monsters where they were either killed with arrows piercing lethal points, swords and daggers swiping bluntly or Hazel manipulating the mist to make them bash their heads against the walls. They were forced back to the crack that Hazel had made bigger with her powers, stumbling and bloody. Out of the four original, they had managed to kill three of them, leaving the final one just in front of the crevice. Piper landed the final blow, sending the monster tumbling down into the darkness, its eyes staring into Piper’s soul as the howls descended further and further into the darkness. She couldn’t help but be reminded of a different time back in Arachne’s lair. Piper stepped backwards and fell to the ground in relief. She watched Hazel kneel down and bring the ground together again to erase all traces of the crack. The sound was unbearable as the rocks ground against each other, setting Piper on edge but at the same time, all she could do was sit and let her aching limbs rest.   
“Are they gone?” Leo asked, his blindfold only barely intact.   
Piper laughed, her throat exploding with pain. She coughed a couple of times before replying with a shaky voice, “it’s all good. You can take them off.”  
Leo let out a whoop making the group laugh.   
Frank poked his head from around Piper’s door. “How long was that?”  
Annabeth squinted at her wristwatch which Piper didn’t even notice until now. It was weird for a demigod to keep items like watches around for more than a day without them breaking. “Only around 30 minutes. Nearly a record for blind fighting.”  
Percy pointed at the watch, “it’s sad that we even have a record.”  
The group laughed again.   
Never before had Piper noticed how time is so much like water; that it can pass slowly, a drop at a time, even freeze, or rush by in a blink. She swore the fight felt like hours, her feet told her as much.   
“Is anyone hurt?” Hazel called out, her arms already filled with ambrosia and bandages.   
Annabeth lifted her arm showing off a nice bruise forming. “I am. I may have got knocked around a bit.”  
Piper shot her an apologetic look but Annabeth waved her off as Percy quickly joined her by her side.  
Jason too had an injury, as Piper saw a large neat scratch running from his shoulder down to one of his armpits. He caught her eye and smiled to show her he was fine which allowed her breathing to become easier. 

Hazel helped out Annabeth and Jason while Leo and Frank dusted themselves off and fist-bumped, Frank albeit begrudgingly. Piper was going to join the duo by the old split in the floor before Jason held her back.   
“You should have some,” he said, offering some ambrosia, “your throat must be killing you.”  
With no willpower to use said voice, she nodded and gratefully took the square of ambrosia. Comfort quickly flooded her system when she tasted black bean soup her dad used to make her.   
“You did amazing.”   
Piper looked into his sky blue eyes and cleared her throat, it no longer throbbed. “Thanks.” She hesitated, feeling the familiar sense of shame rush through her. “I just can’t help but feel I could’ve stopped you and Annabeth from getting hurt. We’re already banged up as it is.” She motioned to her sleepless bags under her eyes.   
Jason quickly enveloped her with his arms and she sighed, fidgeting closer. “Like I said, amazing. Now, all we have to do is get through the last three rooms.”  
“Oh, gods. Yeah, I can’t wait to see.” She retorted sarcastically.   
“It’s not as bad as you think.”  
“Hmph.”  
Jason’s melodic laugh filled her ears and she couldn’t help but smile. “Trust me. It’s only bad for a little while.” He looked somewhere else for a second before focusing back on Piper.   
She didn’t even need to think about where he looked; she knew. “We’re going to see”, she paused, “we’re going to see...down there, aren’t we?”  
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “There’s no denying it. Percy and Annabeth are bound to have a few bad ones in Tartarus, but we’ll all get through it. They did the real thing so the memories can’t be that...bad, for lack of a better word?.”  
Piper nodded.   
The two held each other for a moment longer before Jason started talking again. “We should probably join the others”, he gestured to Leo, Frank and Hazel who were all in the middle of the room.   
Before Piper could respond, she caught sight of the dark-haired demigod talking with Annabeth. “I’ll be over in a minute.”   
He hesitated before nodding and going up to Leo. His worried glances followed her until she reached Percy, though.   
“Piper!” Annabeth exclaimed, “great job! Without you, I’d probably be a pancake by now.”   
Piper smiled before replying, “thanks. Although it was all your plan in the end.”  
“Eh, po-ta-to, po-tah-to.”  
“Um,” Piper pulled her collar to loosen it slightly, “can I talk to Percy for a sec?”  
They seemed surprised but Annabeth agreed and left to regroup.   
“Is everything alright?” Percy asked worriedly. It almost made Piper feel guilty for confronting him. Almost.   
“How did you see them?”  
“What?” His dark eyebrows drew together.  
Piper looked away and pulled at her braid, “you didn’t need my help for directions. It was like you could see them even though you had a blindfold on. I don’t get it.”  
Piper thought she saw Percy’s breathing speed up, but she couldn’t know for sure. “I, uh, I used the water vapour in the air. It-it was pretty easy to sense their movements.”  
He avoided eye contact with her as she mulled it over in her head. She supposed it made sense, it just never occurred to her how powerful Percy is. She wondered if Jason would do that with the wind, or Hazel with the weight on the ground. “Right, yeah. Well, I guess it all worked out in the end.” She gave him a side-eye.   
Percy nervously fingered riptide. “Hey, you did fantastic. I’m...I’m sorry if that was a little weird for you.”  
“No, no. I guess I was just curious.” Piper forced herself to shrug casually, there was still something bugging her, Percy wasn’t a good liar. “You did amazing. You brought down like half of them.”   
Percy awkwardly laughed. “Thanks.” He jutted his thumbs out to the group, “we should probably join them.”  
“Oh right.” Piper groaned.   
“I’m sure it’s gonna be fine.”   
Piper laughed at his expression, lifting some of the settled tension. “Right.”  
They walked together to the remaining five as Piper’s nerves started up again. It was her turn. 

The others faced her as she approached, which didn’t help at all with what she was feeling. Percy joined Annabeth’s side and Piper with Jason. The group were crowded round the ceramic sort plate, Greek etching lining the sides. If Piper didn’t know any better, she’d think it was supposed to be in a museum. Piper put her left foot forward and pushed down on the plate until it had sunk back into the ground. As if a switch was pulled, the familiar smoke filled the room, this time smelling like bleach and stale coffee. Piper felt like gagging immediately. 

The seven were standing in a hospital room. The room was as devoid of beauty as the two people who sat in the corner were of hope. A little girl with her hair split into two bunches sat with her hands in her lap next to a man with golden skin and dark hair whose arms were locked in a crossed position. Piper recognised her and her father - before stardom, before her schools, before her life as a demigod. The room’s walls were simply white, not peeling or dirty, just white. A white so blinding that Piper felt like looking away from but they were already burned in her retinas. There was no decoration at all save the dull pink plastic chairs Piper and her dad were sitting in. At the far end were windows in brown metal frames, only openable at the top. In the middle of the room was Piper’s Grandpa Tom. He lay peacefully in the bed, his chest rising and falling slowly, IV’s, heart monitors and oxygen tanks were all connected to him. At the foot of the bed lay balloons and flowers for his health. At the door, there were dispensers for rubber gloves, hand sanitizer and soap.   
“How much longer does he have left?” Piper started, breaking the silence.   
Tristan Mclean sighed. “Not much longer. Lung cancer can be very deadly.”  
She nodded and neither spoke again until Piper again piped up.   
“I don’t want him to go.”   
She looked up at Tristan with her tears threatening to spill. Her father simply smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around the small girl.   
“Neither do I.”  
“It’s not fair. Why does he have to die?”  
“Everyone has to die eventually.” He looked back up, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. “Grandpa Tom was the kindest man I ever knew. He was the best dad, the best neighbour, the best friend and the best grandpa. He loved us so much. I know he’s going to be in a better place. We just need to be strong, can you do that for me, Pipes?”  
Piper nuzzled closer into his chest. He pulled her into his lap and pressed a kiss into her hair. The real Piper felt her own eyes go misty.   
“We’ll be okay.”   
Little Piper nodded with resolve. 

Piper found herself standing in the middle of her father’s study in their mansion back in California. The room had dark leather chairs, studio lights blaring down and blinding her, large windows from the top of the room to the bottom and of course, Tristan Mclean’s signature wardrobe filled to the brim with Italian suits and watches. All in all, it was a beautiful room that must’ve cost more than Camp Half Blood’s strawberry profits in a year. The white doors to the right of the group burst open, giving her a nice view of a long, bare corridor. So many times Piper waited outside those doors just to catch a glimpse of her father working when he wasn’t out of town for filming. From the doors came in a dark-haired man clad in a silky purple dress shirt, black trousers and leather shoes. The man, Piper could immediately recognise was a younger version of her dad, was holding one of Apple’s latest products and talking animatedly into it. Before the doors could close, however, came in a younger-looking Piper. The real Piper cringed at how she was dressed; you couldn’t catch her dead in those clothes today. The mist girl was only a couple years younger than her but she was dressed in one of her old private school uniforms, tie and all. She couldn’t even remember which school this uniform belonged to. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun behind her head but stands on mahogany hair were sticking out like porcupine spikes. Piper’s thoughts, however, were immediately wiped when she saw the masses of tears running down her mist version’s face.   
“Dad!”   
“I’ll get there by Tuesday!”  
“Please!”  
“No? Alright, I’ll have my agent book a flight for Monday then.”  
“Hello?”   
“New box office record! That’s fantastic! I’ll have to get back to you on that though.”  
“Dad…”  
Tristan turned, his golden face flushed in anger. Piper winced as she saw herself shrink under his gaze. This was the first of many times that her father had simply...forgotten to be a father.   
“Excuse me one moment,” Tristan pressed a button on his phone and shoved it in his pocket. He was clearly finding less scathing words to say to his adolescent daughter. “Piper! Who told Jane she could let you leave? Don’t you have school today, sweetie?”  
Piper hesitated, “It’s-It’s summer. I just thought we--”  
Tristan’s phone rang once more. He held up his finger apologetically.   
“Would you just--”  
A new person came in through the doors. Jane was marching toward them in her business suit, wobbling in her high heels, her PDA in hand. The look on her face was partly fuming and partly sheepish as she joined the duo in the study.   
“Piper, there you are! I saw that you left your room.” Jane crossed her arms and narrowed her smokey eyes. “Now we don’t want to bother daddy dearest.”  
“How about you get lost, Jane!”  
“Piper! Do as she says!” Piper’s dad lifted his phone off his and pointed to the doors.   
The three of them paused. After a moment Piper’s shoulders hunched and caved in. “Fine.” She spat, “no, you’re right.” Piper turned to leave, her face scrunched up to stop herself from crying. Just before she could exit the room however, she spun, eyes aflame. “I got kicked out of another by the way. Not like you needed to know.” She slammed the door shut with Jane scurrying out behind her, their footsteps echoing in the marble hallways. 

“Are you sure he can’t be here?” Piper asked, her eyes wide.   
Jane and Piper were standing outside a train station, people bustling around them. The seven were slightly discombobulated from the quick change in temperature. From cool air conditioning to outdoor California summer heat, even Piper herself felt dizzy. It was the middle of the day and the bus station was packed. A mist version of herself and Jane were standing shoulder to shoulder as they waited for a bus. Piper knew it was the day she was “shipped” off to wilderness school like a zoo animal. By mist Piper’s feet was a hiking backpack that was stuffed until it looked like it was on the verge of exploding and a small, business-sized suitcase. Everywhere around the duo was a seething mass of humanity. Piper always hated bus stations. When it's crowded you take in no information about anyone, they are just things in your way. Moving, smelling, awkward, rude things. She remembered how the faces of the city were always looking at her like she was a freak. Piper felt especially weird now considering how all the crowds of mist people were simply walking through the frozen demigods like they were ghosts. Granted, technically they were in a way. It didn’t help Piper feel any better though.   
Piper was quickly brought back to attention when Jane pushed a perfectly manicured hand into Piper’s face to silence her. “Not now.” She finished up talking on her earpiece before facing Piper. Even now, Piper wanted to punch that...she-devil.  
“Jane!”  
Jane fixed her impeccable placed blonde hair before speaking to Piper. “He has more important things to do today.”  
“Can I not give him a call goodbye?”  
“No, sorry,” she said, not sounding remotely sorry.   
Piper huffed, sending a strand of hair flying up. “Can you pass on a message for me? That’s the least you can do.”  
“No. He’s very busy at the moment and he just needs distractions gone.”  
“So I’m a distraction.”  
Jane sighed, “that’s not what I mea-”  
“That's exactly what you meant!”  
“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a screw-up, he’d actually want to talk to you!”   
Piper felt the scathing comment even now. Not that it wasn’t true, it just hurt for someone to say it. Piper was always the one who messed up. Jason nudged her shoulder and Piper pulled herself back together, if only Jane could see her now.  
Jane exhaled before starting again. “Your bus is coming in a couple of minutes. Just try to stay out of trouble until then, then it’s their job to watch you.” She huffed.   
Piper didn’t answer. 

“Boys!” A shrill voice cried. Piper recognised Medea. She looked like a princess with her elegant black dress with diamond jewellery. Her long dark hair was swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal supermodel way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. “It’s true, I’m Medea. But I’m so misunderstood. Oh, Piper, my dear, you don’t know what it was like for women in the old days. We had no power, no leverage. Often we couldn’t even choose our own husbands. But I was different. I chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress. Is that so wrong? I made a pact with Jason: my help to win the fleece, in exchange for his love. A fair deal. He became a famous hero! Without me, he would’ve died unknown on the shores of Colchis.”   
Jason scowled. “Then … you really did die three thousand years ago? You came back from the Underworld?”   
“Death no longer holds me, young hero,” Medea said. “Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again.”   
“You … re-formed?” Leo blinked. “Like a monster?”  
Medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails, like water splashed on hot iron. “You have no idea what’s happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes. And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask.”   
“Guys,” Piper said. “The original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty.”   
“Lies!” Medea said.   
“On the way back from Colchis, Jason’s ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dump Medea and marry the king’s daughter.”   
“After I bore him two children!” Medea said. “Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?”   
Jason and Leo dutifully shook their heads, but Piper wasn’t through.   
“It may not have been right,” she said, “but neither was Medea’s revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom.”   
Medea snarled. “An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth—that unruly mob—killed my children and drove me out. Jason did nothing to protect me. He robbed me of everything. So yes, I sneaked back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair—a suitable price.” “You’re insane,” Piper said.   
“I am the victim!” Medea wailed. “I died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. I know now not to trust heroes. When they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!”   
The fountain turned bright red. Piper drew her dagger, but her hand was shaking almost too badly to hold it.   
“Jason, Leo —it’s time to go. Now.”   
“Before you’ve closed the deal?” Medea asked. “What of your quest, boys? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed—stronger and more powerful than ever.”   
“Seriously?” Leo asked.   
“Leo, she’s lying,” Piper said. “She did that trick with somebody before—a king, I think. She convinced his daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!”   
“Ridiculous,” Medea said, and Piper could hear the power charged in every syllable. “Leo, Jason—my price is so simple. Why don’t you two fight? If you get injured or even killed, no problem. We’ll just throw you into the fountain and you’ll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don’t you? You resent each other!”   
“Guys, no!” Piper said. But they were already glaring at each other as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt. Piper remembered what it felt like to be that helpless. Now she understood what real sorcery looked like. She’d always thought magic meant wands and fireballs, but this was worse. Medea didn’t just rely on poisons and potions. Her most potent weapon was her voice.   
Leo scowled. “Jason’s always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted.”   
“You’re annoying, Leo,” Jason said. “You never take anything seriously. You can’t even fix a dragon.”  
“Stop!” Piper pleaded, but both drew weapons—Jason his gold sword, and Leo a hammer from his tool belt.   
“Let them go, Piper,” Medea urged. “I’m doing you a favour. Let it happen now, and it will make your choice so much easier. Enceladus will be pleased. You could have your father back today!”   
Medea’s charm speak didn’t work on her, but the sorceress still had a persuasive voice.   
“You work for Enceladus,” she said. Medea laughed.   
“Serve a giant? No. But we all serve the same greater cause—a patron you cannot begin to challenge. Walk away, child of Aphrodite. This does not have to be your death, too. Save yourself, and your father can go free.”   
Leo and Jason were still facing off, ready to fight, but they looked unsteady and confused—waiting for another order.  
“Listen to me, girl.” Medea plucked a diamond off her bracelet and threw it into a spray of water from the fountain. As it passed through the multicoloured light, Medea said, “O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me the office of Tristan McLean.”   
The mist shimmered, and Piper saw her father’s study. Sitting behind his desk, talking on the phone, was her dad’s assistant, Jane.   
“Hello, Jane,” Medea said. Jane hung up the phone calmly.   
“How can I help you, ma’am? Hello, Piper.”   
“You—” Mist Piper looked so angry it looked like she could hardly talk.   
“Yes, child,” Medea said. “Your father’s assistant. Quite easy to manipulate. An organized mind for a mortal, but incredibly weak.”  
“Thank you, ma’am,” Jane said.   
“Don’t mention it,” Medea said. “I just wanted to congratulate you, Jane. Getting Mr McLean to leave town so suddenly, take his jet to Oakland without alerting the press or the police—well done! No one seems to know where he’s gone. And telling him his daughter’s life was on the line, that was a nice touch to get his cooperation.”   
“Yes,” Jane agreed in a bland tone as if she were sleepwalking.   
“He was quite cooperative when he believed Piper was in danger.”   
Mist Piper looked down at her dagger. The blade trembled in her hand. Piper never realised how terrified she looked.   
“I may have new orders for you, Jane,” Medea said. “If the girl cooperates, it may be time for Mr McLean to come home. Would you arrange a suitable cover story for his absence, just in case? And I imagine the poor man will need some time in a psychiatric hospital.”   
“Yes, ma’am. I will stand by.” The image faded, and Medea turned to Piper grinning like a banshee. Even now, it sent shivers down Piper’s spine. Before Piper could witness what she knew would be the upcoming fight, the mist rippled and the seven were ripped from the scene. 

Piper and the group were standing over a mist version of Piper, Leo and Jason and her father, the latter of whom was shivering and crying. It broke Piper’s heart to see her father like this but she knew it would be okay, the only solace she had.   
“No,” her dad muttered, as they picked him up off the ground. “Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—”   
Piper looked like she needed both Leo’s and Jason’s help to hold him, while Coach Hedge gathered supplies. The demigods each bore their own saddened expressions, sweat dripping off their skin.   
“It’ll be okay, Dad,” she said, making her voice as soothing as possible. “These people are my friends. We’re going to help you. You’re safe now.”   
The demigods carried them to a red helicopter that was waiting on some grass. There was a woman waiting for them, her face the picture of astonishment.   
Tristan blinked and looked up at helicopter rotors. “Blades. They had a machine with so many blades. They had six arms …”   
When they got him to the bay doors, the pilot came over to help. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.   
“Smoke inhalation,” Jason suggested. “Or heat exhaustion.”   
“We should get him to a hospital,” the pilot said.   
“It’s okay,” Piper said. “The airport is good.”   
“Yeah, the airport is good,” the pilot agreed immediately. Then she frowned, as if uncertain why she’d changed her mind. “Isn’t he Tristan McLean, the movie star?”   
“No,” Piper said. “He only looks like him. Forget it.”   
“Yeah,” the pilot said. “Only looks like him. I—” She blinked, confused. “I forgot what I was saying. Let’s get going.”   
Jason raised his eyebrows at Piper, obviously impressed, but Piper looked miserable.   
Finally, they got him on board, and the helicopter took off. The seven were quickly lifted in the air, flying upwards alongside a helicopter. Piper let out a yelp of surprise when the seven demigods were suddenly flying when they were previously following behind the mist foursome. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who was frightened as everyone except Frank and Jason let out their own exclaims of fear. Percy was especially pale. The demigods could see the helicopter clearly as some of them were partly in. All in all, it was a pretty weird experience. Inside, Piper could see her dad shivering in mist her’s lap and an older man flying the helicopter in the driver’s seat. The pilot kept getting questions over her radio, asking Piper where she was going, but Piper ignored them. Mist Piper spoke a few words to the pilot to convince him to land on the mountain. They veered away from the burning mountain and headed toward the Berkeley Hills.   
“Piper.” Her dad grasped her hand and held on like he was afraid he’d fall. “It’s you? They told me—they told me you would die. They said … horrible things would happen.”   
“It’s me, Dad.” her lip wobbled dangerously. “Everything’s going to be okay.”   
“They were monsters,” he said. “Real monsters. Earth spirits, right out of Grandpa Tom’s stories—and the Earth Mother was angry with me. And the giant, Tsul’kälû, breathing fire—” He focused on Piper again, his eyes like broken glass, reflecting a crazy kind of light. “They said you were a demigod. Your mother was …”   
“Aphrodite,” Piper said. “Goddess of love.”   
“I—I—” He took a shaky breath, then seemed to forget how to exhale.  
“I didn’t know about Mom,” Piper told him. “Not until you were taken. When we found out where you were, we came right away. My friends helped me. No one will hurt you again.”   
Her dad couldn’t stop shivering. “You’re heroes—you and your friends. I can’t believe it. You’re a real hero, not like me. Not playing a part. I’m so proud of you, Pipes.” But the words were muttered listlessly, in a semi-trance. He gazed down on the valley, and his grip on Piper’s hand went slack. “Your mother never told me.”   
“She thought it was for the best.” The real Piper frowned. She always hated that she’d said that; it didn’t seem right. 

Colour temporarily blinded Piper as the demigods went from darkness to sweltering daylight. The seven were now standing in a gigantic field, greenery as far as the eye could see. The demigods were standing by a group compiled of two horses, three demigods and a god--quite a weird group.   
The god, Mr D’s Roman version Bacchus, glanced at the sun, which had climbed almost to high noon. “It’s unlike Ceres to be late unless she sensed something dangerous in this area. Or…” The god’s face suddenly went slack. “Or a trap. Well, I must be going! And if I were you, I’d do the same!”   
“Lord Bacchus, wait!” Jason protested.   
The god shimmered and disappeared with a sound like a soda-can top being popped. The wind rustled through the sunflowers. The horses paced in agitation. Despite the dry, hot day, mist Piper shivered.   
“Bacchus is right,” Piper said. “We need to leave—”   
Too late, said a sleepy voice, humming through the fields all around them and resonating in the ground at Piper’s feet. Percy and Jason drew their swords. Piper stood on the road between them, frozen with fear. The power of Gaea was suddenly everywhere. The sunflowers turned to look at them. The wheat bent toward them like a million scythes. Welcome to my party, Gaea murmured. Her voice reminded Piper of corn growing—a crackling, hissing, hot and persistent noise she used to hear at Grandpa Tom’s on those quiet nights in Oklahoma. What did Bacchus say? the goddess mocked. A simple, lowkey affair with organic snacks? Yes. For my snacks, I need only two: the blood of a female demigod, and the blood of a male. Piper, my dear, choose which hero will die with you.   
“Gaea!” Jason yelled. “Stop hiding in the wheat. Show yourself!”   
Such bravado, Gaea hissed. But the other one, Percy Jackson, also has appeal. Choose, Piper McLean, or I will.   
“You’re insane!” she shouted. “I’m not choosing anything for you!” Suddenly Jason gasped. He sat up straight in his saddle. “Jason!” Piper cried. “What’s wrong—?”   
Mist Jason looked down at her, his expression deadly calm. His eyes were no longer blue. They glowed solid gold.   
“Percy, help!” Piper stumbled back from Tempest.   
But Percy galloped away from them. He stopped thirty feet down the road and wheeled his pegasus around. He raised his sword and pointed the tip toward Jason.   
“One will die,” Percy said, but the voice wasn’t his. It was deep and hollow, like someone whispering from inside the barrel of a cannon.   
“I will choose,” Jason answered, in the same hollow voice.  
“No!” Piper yelled.   
All around her, the fields crackled and hissed, laughing in Gaea’s voice as Percy and Jason charged at each other, their weapons ready. Jason and Percy charged each other, but Tempest and Blackjack balked long enough for Piper to leap out of the way. She rolled to the edge of the road and looked back, dazed and horrified, as the boys crossed swords, gold against bronze. Sparks flew. Their blades blurred—strike and parry—and the pavement trembled. The first exchange took only a second, Piper still couldn’t believe the speed of their sword fighting. The horses pulled away from each other—Tempest thundering in protest, Blackjack flapping his wings.   
“Stop it!” Piper yelled, her voice cracking with terror. 

Mist Piper’s voice reverberated in her head as the scene changed for a final memory. If Piper was completely honest, she had no idea what it was going to be. Well, to be fair, Piper thought, I didn't really know from the beginning. Piper was now aboard the Argo II. She glanced around to know where they were and when. As far as Piper knew, they could be at a memory from the first trip on the magical boat or to now. The boat was currently flying above a parking lot, well, what was left of it. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the concrete that went darker and darker as it went further down. Piper felt dread fill her stomach and sit there like a boulder. She knew where they were, it seems everyone did. There was still a ladder hanging off the side of the ship, descending into said darkness. The Mist versions of Jason and herself quickly came into the scene as Jason flew her onto the deck. Both of them wore relieved smiles as they held each other. If Piper didn’t know what was happening next, she would think there was a mix up with the memories. Jason shot back down to help with securing the Athena Parthenos.   
Looking down, she saw grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena’s neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from next to Piper at the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them. Before long, the statue was safely propped up on deck with Frank and Jason landing next to it and high fiving.   
Leo whooped and wiped his forehead, “Damn! I can’t believe that girl actually did it!”  
“I’m not surprised.” Mist Piper laughed as the real Piper’s face was drained of blood.   
Oh, Styx.  
The group was suddenly drawn to the side of the ship when they heard a series of shouts. Piper could hear some sobbing and scuffling. The real Piper really wanted to vomit at this point. She cast a quick glance at Percy and Annabeth who were both equally pale and ready to vomit. She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help as Piper watched two small figures fall into the dark. It was so far away it was nearly impossible to tell who it was. Jason quickly jumped overboard and flew down to help the distressed siblings. The mist demigods who were on board were clutching the side of the Argo II, Leo helping pull the ladder up with a weight on at the end. Soon, one by one, they each helped pull the ladder up until Hazel and Nico emerged. Hazel was sobbing into her hands as Frank crouched beside her and held her. Nico was in a similar state as he stood to the side and collapsed on the deck in silent but deadly tears.   
Mist Piper was the first to speak up. “Where are Annabeth and Percy?!”  
Hazel only continued to cry.   
“Hazel! Nico! Tell me they’re not--they’re not…”  
Nico looked up, his eyes bloodshot and his nose runny. He nodded gravely.   
Piper stumbled back and gasped.   
“You’re...you’re kidding. TELL ME YOU’RE JOKING!” She screamed.   
Jason ran his hands through his hair. “They...they didn’t die, right? Please tell me they’re okay.”  
“Tartarus,” Hazel whispered, “Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus.”  
Nothing could stop Mist Piper from crying. Piper had always been so self-conscious when she cried but then she just gave way to the enormity of her grief. She sobbed into her hands and the tears dripped between her fingers, raining down onto the wood of the deck. Jason slammed his hand onto the wood of the fascia, Frank sat by Hazel with his face shocked and white. Each of the demigods broke down as the seven returned to reality, their cries slowly muting out as the Seven disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudos and comment!
> 
> xxx


	11. Jason XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth...wow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually took me like nearly five hours to write lmao. 
> 
> Enjoy and don't forget to leave a kudos and comment!!
> 
> Thank you all for your support!!!! (And for those who commented on whose POV they want next!)

Jason POV: Chapter 11

Jason slipped his hand into Piper’s. The seven were all standing back catching their breath. The most notable demigod that was trying to control her breathing was Annabeth. Once again, a door moulded from the walls in front of them. This door, dust shifting in the air as it appeared, glowed with a grey light. Faint enough for it to be missed by someone who wasn’t looking but for everyone nervously walking forward to go in, it wasn’t a great sign. The door had an owl emblem on top that seemed to stare straight at Jason. Shivers ran down his spine as he not too fondly remembered Annabeth’s recount of her solo quest. Not his favourite. Athena always seemed like the most intimidating to Jason - including his dad. Of course, he hadn’t met her, but from what he knows about mythology and Annabeth and Percy’s adventures, she wasn’t the nicest of the gods. As Jason thought of Athena’s betrayal to Annabeth, his lip curled and his nostrils flared. It wasn’t uncommon to feel anger towards the Gods but knowing the Gods - Athena - did nothing to help her child, made his mind feel as if lead were coursing through it instead of blood. He averted his gaze off the door. He couldn't bear to look that way, because if Jason did make contact he thought he might vomit. Disgust. Total disgust. Jason felt Percy next to him square up his shoulders and take a deep breath. It’s no denying that Annabeth and Percy had the hardest journeys compared to the rest of the seven. Of course, he doesn’t think that thinking you caused your mother’s death isn’t terrible, but...but they had seen some things.   
Hesitantly, Annabeth stepped forward and cleared her throat, fiddling with her camp necklace. “Well, we better get this out of the way,” she announced, grey eyes jumping to each of them separately, lingering on Percy slightly. “In each of the different memories, the conditions were the same; cold in Alaska, musty in the attic, hot in the forges. There’s no doubt that we’ll be down in...T-Tartarus. No skating around it. My memories will be from down there. And so it’s only right to tell you what to expect so you don’t choke in surprise.”   
“Annabeth…” Green eyes bore into grey. He frowned, eyebrows furrowing. His expression was hard to decipher but his eyes gave it all away; fear.   
“Percy, it doesn’t matter. It-it doesn’t matter. To Hades with it.” She turned back towards the rest of the demigods - including Jason - who have all seemed to step back to give the pair some privacy. She probably thinks we’re idiots, Jason though, like that will help.   
Clearing her throat once more, left eye twitching slightly, “the air down there is toxic. It was made to kill, to burn your lungs from the inside out. But, it’s for a slow death. It takes time. I’m sure Epiales won’t let us...be badly injured. He needs us alive.” She took a breath. “The smell has something to do with your bad memories, some time or someone you hate. You’ll see what it looks like when we come to it but let me offer you all advice; short shallow breaths are going to kill you. Take slow but not deep. Regulate your breathing.” 

Jason saw Hazel give Frank a wary look while Piper and Leo just looked at her and Percy with pity. Poorly concealed pity. Jason knew to not make a deal out of it in an attempt to not provoke the couple. Pushing out her arms and cracking her fingers, Annabeth walked forward and pushed open the door, the rest of the seven following close behind her. She quickly stomped on the plate and the room, identical to all the others, filled with the mist and started to form. Jason saw Annabeth’s breath hitch and Percy’s calloused hand slip into hers as they stood in the most suburban home Jason had ever seen.  
Jason didn’t have many memories of his mother’s house before he was taken but he knows for sure, it didn’t look like this. The house was welcoming from the open door to the wide hallway. Upon the walls were the photographs of two children, obviously so loved. Most of the pictures were of two dark-haired toddlers doing an assorted number of activities from eating ice cream to toddler football. The floor was old rustic wood, the rich colour of chestnut and had barely any scuffs. The walls were painted an office beige and the windows showcased houses that looked identical to its neighbours; this house not breaking the pattern. The demigods were standing in an ordinary living room with a homely couch hidden by knitted blankets and pillows. There were flowers upon the coffee table that were fresh, some open and others in bud. They were a delicate shade of pink, yet the kind of colour that feels confident, proud to bring a radiance to the room. They swayed gently in the breeze that came through the open glass doors leading to a garden filled with vibrant yellows and oranges. It was, Jason decided, a perfectly normal home. However, despite the warm embrace the home gave Jason, the scene he was standing in was far from comforting. A petite Asian woman with shocking red highlights in her black hair clutched a small blonde girl by her wrist. She was lifting the girl’s wrist, almost shaking it at the man that sat across from where the pair were standing.   
“Spiders, Frederick. Spiders” the woman, finishing her sentence exclaimed. “Bobby and Matthew need to stay safe. You can’t tell me that it doesn’t worry you. She's clearly making it up as some sort of attention grab!”  
“Daddy! You were the one who saw my bites!” The little girl cried. It was only then that Jason realised who it was. The same bold and bossy tone was like a punch in the gut to Jason. The young Annabeth didn’t look anything like her current self. Her eyes, however, were still the metallic silver that everyone knew them to be. “And I am not an attention seeker! They come out at night, like they always do, and bite me. Then they disappear!”  
The man - Frederick, Annabeth’s dad Jason assumes - himself had greying blonde hair and thick glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Jason realised how similar he was to the current Annabeth. His face had the same structure as hers, high cheekbones and symmetrical. He had the same deep brown eyes and tanned skin. He was slender despite his years, toned and not at all stooped. Around his eyes were lines as if he was constantly squinting or smiling. Jason supposed that he was often happy, but at that moment he was deadly serious.  
“You’re lying!” The woman screeched. “You were screaming all of last night and whenever I came in, there was nothing there, you silly girl! And all this about the monsters outside your window too!”  
“Well, what do you suppose I do?” Annabeth asked indignantly, her nose thrusting up in the air. “Just let them eat me? I know what I saw. They were right there--!”  
Frederick sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “Annabeth, please. Helen said there was nothing there. Are you sure there were spiders? We check every night.”   
“You’re not looking properly then!”  
“Annabeth, please! No shouting!”  
“Helen was the one shouting first!”  
The woman - Helen - yanked Annabeth’s wrist that was still in her hand and spun the girl to face her. “I did no such thing. I won’t hear your whining anymore! Get upstairs while I talk to your father.”   
Annabeth practically spat in her face, “you don’t get to tell me what to do.”   
Helen went red, her cheeks swelling like a balloon about to pop. She let go of Annabeth’s bruising wrist and shoved her manicured finger into the girl’s face. “I won’t ask again.”  
“C’mon Annabeth, don’t be difficult.”  
Before the mist, Annabeth could speak, however, the door of their house burst in. Behind the door stood a hellhound, its mouth was open in a snarl, the thick foaming spit falling out of its mouth as if it hadn’t eaten a fresh demigod in centuries. The dog was small for the average monster but larger than a normal dog with a scruffy black coat and an extravagant ruff of fur around its neck and a long tail that curved like the hook of a coat hanger. That didn’t make it any less intimidating with its sharp fangs and blood-red eyes.   
Helen let out a shriek of fear.   
“Get to the boys, Helen!” Shouted Fredrick, jumping up from the couch as the woman sprinted up the stairs.   
Before Helen reached the top of the stairs however, she turned to the frozen Annabeth and hissed “This is all your fault…”  
Frederick turned and ran to a different room, only returning with a shotgun. He fumbled with golden bullets before pulling it up and back, cocking it professionally.   
The scene changed just as the first flurry of bullets were released, the gunshots ringing in Jason’s ears.   
“The day I ran away.” the real Annabeth whispered thickly. 

Jason almost yelped as he caught sight of a much younger looking Thalia. She had much more baby fat on her oval-shaped face and her hair was significantly different from the real Thalia’s length as the mist version had hair almost down to her shoulders. Thalia was running with a younger Annabeth on her back alongside a blonde boy with bright blue eyes. Barely in front of the three was a fau--satyr who was running similarly to the children. Around them, trees caged them in like tyrants as they fell further and further into the darkness of the woods. The blackness nurtured a sense of claustrophobia inside Jason even though he wasn’t even there. The group were following a narrow path, which was made uneven by the knotted roots that crossed it, branched at intervals. Jason could only barely see Mist Annabeth and Thalia’s faces which were illuminated by the moon’s silvery rays. Thalia had a busted lip and was limping slightly causing Annabeth to jolt up and down with every step while Annabeth was cut along the cheek and seemed to have trouble keeping her eyes open. The boy was equally pale and sweaty, his forehead was bleeding into his right eye which was shut painfully and swollen.   
“C’mon! We’re nearly there!” The satyr yelled, not looking back. “Only a few more minutes!”  
Jason saw the leaves and trees dancing side to side and smelled the fresh air that passed their way. It was so dark that light from the satyr’s torch died only inches away from the source. There were small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind alongside the group's desperate panting. But every few seconds, heavy footsteps echoed from only a few trees away. Wood could be heard snapping gruesomely like bones as whatever was chasing the demigods was getting closer.   
Suddenly, Thalia let out a yell and fell to the ground, her ankle twisting unnaturally to the left as it got caught in a jutting out root. The next sight scared Jason out of his mind as he watched his sister, lieutenant of Artemis’ hunters and one of the strongest demigods he knew, start crying.   
“I can’t, Luke. I can’t make it.”  
“You can!” The boy panted, wrapping Annabeth’s arms around his neck and shifting her on his back. “I can carry you too! Grover said it himself it was only a few minutes! Please!”  
He didn’t wait for her answer as he started dragging Thalia frantically along the forest floor, ignoring her sobs.   
“I-I’ll only weigh you down! You need to leave!”  
Grover ran over to the group and sat by Thalia, his hand pulling at her trapped foot, freeing her. “We need to go right now!”  
“Take them to camp, I’ll stop the cyclopses from following!”  
“Thalia, NO!” Luke cried. “You can’t do this!”  
“Thalia?” Annabeth asked.   
The daughter of Zeus rose shakily, wiping her tears from her face. She threw her arms over Luke and Annabeth and held them tightly as the footsteps became increasingly louder.   
“I love you both so much.” She kissed the two, salty tears pooling in the dirt as they held each other.   
Luke looked pained as if his heart was being ripped out of his chest, “you don’t have to do this.”  
“Yes, I do.”  
Thalia turned around, a stoic expression slapped across her younger face as she charged into the trees, disappearing into the night.   
“Thalia!” Mist Annabeth screamed. “Luke! Stop! We need to save her!”  
Luke only shook his head and continued to run after Grover, ignoring the struggling Annabeth, his tears dribbling down his face. In the intense silence of the forest, Annabeth somehow screamed with her whole body. Her eyes were screwed shut, her mouth rigid and open, her chalky face gaunt and immobile, her fists clenched into Luke’s ripped shirt with blanched knuckles. And Hades, what a scream it was. It made the hair stand straight up on the back of Jason’s neck. It was the loudest most piercing scream he had ever heard. It sounded like a scream of wild panic. A scream of hysteria and disbelief, bordering on terror.  
“Up here!” yelled a voice that slowly disintegrated as the scene changed. 

The demigods were standing on water. Around them were the murky depths of the sea, wooden structures and metallic-looking spheres floating in the water. In the distance solemnly stood an island, shrouded in mist. The island itself seemed to be grieving, or at least had a veil of death over it so strong it looked almost sucked of colour. It had a half-moon-shaped bay that almost beckoned Jason to come over. The beach was black volcanic sand. Jason saw something jet between two rock fangs towards a struggling--girl? Annabeth was frantically swimming to the island, her face devoid of emotion, narrowly avoiding wreckage. She seemed to struggle against the tremendous waves, only barely keeping her hair above the water. Then, Jason saw the monsters. They were a flock of vultures the size of people—with dirty black plumage, grey talons, and wrinkled pink necks with human heads on top. Some sort of mist stopped Jason from seeing their faces though. They were blurred so much that it was at a point where Jason could barely see their eyes. Jason couldn’t hear them, but I could see they were singing. Instead of singing, all he could hear the harsh lapping of the waves on the beach and Annabeth’s splashing. Annabeth swam toward them before being harshly jerked back by a tan hand on her foot. The figure that had darted through the water before was a tiny Percy Jackson. It was quite weird for Jason to see a Percy so small and...innocent, in a way. His arms had little to no scars and his face was much rounder. He propelled himself forward in the water and grabbed her ankle. His ears were filled with a thick yellow substance that Jason realised must have been wax and his lips were set in a straight line for determination. The moment he touched her, a shock went through his body, and Jason saw the two froze for a second before he pulled Annabeth back into the surf.   
As Percy dragged her away from the sirens, Annabeth started screaming primally. Her voice cracked with every second she was moved. She flailed and kicked Percy in the face, but he held on. Jason watched as the currents carried them out into the bay. Annabeth pummeled and kicked him, thrashing so much they almost collided with a floating mine. The demigods suddenly started to sink as Percy pushed them underwater. Jason looked around in wonder as the sunlight from the surface danced in the waves like each ray was controlled separately. The expanse of blue water stretched in every direction to the horizon. The demigods could breathe, Jason was happy to know, but the air was incredibly humid to a point where it felt like Jason was inhaling water. When they went under, Jason watched as Annabeth stopped struggling. Her expression became confused. Then their heads broke the surface and she started to fight again.  
Percy, seemingly figuring something out about the spell, grabbed her around the waist and ordered the waves to push them down. They shot into the depths—ten feet, twenty feet—as the demigods followed. She fought and struggled for breath as bubbles rose around them. There was a flurry of white and soon Annabeth and Percy had a huge bubble of air around them with only their legs sticking into the water.   
She gasped and coughed, her whole body shuddered. Jason watched as the taller Annabeth buried her face into Percy’s shoulder and sob heart-wrenchingly. From Annabeth came the most hysterical crying, the screaming sobs only interrupted by her need to draw breath. It was a primal sound, one people aren’t programmed to ignore. Her salty tears dripped from her chin and became one with the ocean that lapped her feet. The blue light danced across their faces, making Jason see how truly young they were. Fish gathered to look at them, a school of barracudas, some curious marlins. They swam through Jason like he was a ghost, making him feel all fuzzy.   
“I’ll get us back to the ship,” Percy told her. “It’s okay. Just hang on.”   
Annabeth nodded to let him know she was better now, then she murmured “thank you, Percy.” Before promptly burying back into Percy. 

Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. She was slightly older in this memory, dressed in a dark coat and jeans, her old dagger strapped to her thigh. Jason immediately felt claustrophobic and he couldn't see the sky above, just a close, heavy darkness, as if he were in a cave. The stillness of the air seemed to suck even the sound of Annabeth’s footfalls into the nothingness of the night. Even the trees around her seemed not to rustle as if they were tense with nerves for what was to come. Jason could describe it as creepy, but eerie was closer to it. It was the kind of silence that falls right before you get knifed in the back. It sent a shiver down his spine and he felt my blood chill in my veins. Annabeth struggled up the hill. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.   
“Thorn!” Annabeth cried. “Where are you? Why did you bring me here?” She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill. She gasped.   
There was a tall, blonde man. He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. He was panting in pain, sweat dripping off his forehead. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat.   
“Annabeth!” he called. “Help me! Please!”   
She ran forward. Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch the man’s face, but at the last second, she hesitated.   
“What happened?” she asked, her lip wobbling.  
“They left me here,” he groaned. “Please. It's killing me.”   
Jason couldn't see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.   
“Why should I trust you?” Annabeth asked. Her voice was filled with hurt.   
“You shouldn't,” he said. “I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die.”   
Then the darkness above him began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow—tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and the man just with her own strength. Jason felt himself gaping. He quickly shut his mouth.   
The man rolled free, gasping. “Thanks,” he managed.   
“Help me hold it,” Annabeth groaned.   
He caught his breath, his face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily.   
“I knew I could count on you.” He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.   
“LUKE, HELP ME!” she pleaded. Her arms were already shaking with effort.  
Jason immediately thought back to the first scene and the blonde boy. This can’t have been him. He seemed so ready to protect Annabeth in her memory. The eyes that were once filled with so much purpose and love were now replaced with bitterness and hate. The only thing that showed any resemblance to the old “Luke” was the shell the bitter soul inhabited.   
“Oh, don't worry,” Luke said. “Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the mean-time, try not to die.”   
The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground. Slowly she tried to get up but quickly realized how futile it was when she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Jason knew that she and Percy had held the sky, the stories were inescapable at Camp Half-Blood. But now, watching Annabeth bite back sobs and shuffle so that her hands were pushed up against the sky, it was hard for Jason to watch. 

The demigods were now in a boiling hot room. Smoke hung in the air, shifting like ghosts in the breeze. The room was massive, each corner filled with pools of lava and fires starting randomly while metallic bangs filled the room in rhythmic beats. The walls were rough and granite-like; the same with the floor. A younger, Mist Percy ran towards a platform at the centre of the lava lake.   
“Annabeth!” he yelled.   
“Shhh!” an invisible hand clamped over his mouth and wrestled him down behind a big bronze cauldron. “You want to get us killed?”   
He found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She shimmered into existence in front of him, scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. “Percy, what is your problem?”   
“We’re going to have company! There were these seal things, massive flippers, thick coats and they were having an orientation class. I know! Super weird. But then they were talking about Kronos and forging weapons. About thirty of them in total. Telekhines, I think.” Her eyes widened.   
“So that’s what they are,” she said. “Telekhines. I should’ve known. And they’re making...Well, look.”   
They peeked over the cauldron. In the centre of the platform stood four sea demons, they were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their faces were like a dog’s with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek and black like sea mammals, with long legs that were half flipper, half foot, and humanlike hands with sharp claws. If you blended together a man, a Doberman pinscher, and a sea lion, you’d get something like what Jason was looking at. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.   
“The blade is almost complete,” one said. “It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals.”   
“Aye,” a second said. “It shall be even sharper than before.”  
“What is that?” Percy whispered. Annabeth shook her head.   
“They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder—”   
“They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon,” he said. “And they...they said they made my father’s trident.”   
“The telekhines betrayed the gods,” Annabeth said. “They were practising dark magic. I don’t know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus.”   
“With Kronos.” She nodded.   
“We have to get out—” No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.   
“Put your cap back on,” he said. “Get out!”   
“What?” Annabeth shrieked. “No! I’m not leaving you.”   
“I’ve got a plan. I’ll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it’ll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what’s going on.”   
“But you’ll be killed!”   
“I’ll be fine. Besides, we’ve got no choice.” Annabeth glared at him like she was going to punch him. Clearly, Percy was surprised when she grabbed the collar of his shirt and placed a kiss on his lips. Annabeth shut her eyes for a millisecond whilst Percy stared at her in shock. If the two weren’t in mortal danger, Jason would laugh at his face. The kiss lasted for no longer for a few seconds before Annabeth withdrew as quickly as she came.   
“Be careful, Seaweed Brain.” She put on her hat and vanished.   
“There!” one yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge toward him. The seven watched as a silvery Annabeth retreated back through while Percy ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade in the background.   
Annabeth continued to scurry through the rooms and into a tunnel that fell into darkness. Annabeth stood by the tunnel entrance, pacing back and forth until Jason himself felt dizzy. He could hear Percy’s voice back with the telekhines but he couldn’t make out a word he was saying.   
“C’mon, Percy,” Annabeth muttered, wringing out her hands.   
Without warning, Percy’s scream was heard as waves upon waves of heat were slowly making their way towards where Annabeth was standing. Annabeth, having realised what must’ve been happening ran as quickly as she could away from the entrance of the tunnel. Almost as soon as Percy’s screams were silenced, the world became illuminated. Fire, ash and smoke came barrelling from the entrance as the tunnel seemed to implode in on itself. Jason clutched his ears as the entire cavern seemed to explode. The sound of rock falling and the telekhines’ screams rattling his brain. The sound was so harsh that he thought his ears would burst. From what Jason could see from out of the tunnel, there was an enormous explosion. Rock. Ash. Fire. Lava. Destruction took over. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch its way out of the main rooms. Glass shattered. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of pieces of glass and steel, a deadly rainfall, showered down. The tunnel itself rattled as rocks fell and dust rose. Only after the shock waves and rumbles did Annabeth get up. Her skin was red raw from the heat and she was covered from head to toe in dust and ash. Blood leaking out of her ears and gashes in her forehead. Her dirt ridden face was slowly being cleaned by her tears that were pouring out of her eyes. She picked herself up, having been blasted further away from the entrance than she had initially travelled.   
“PERCY!”   
She ran towards the boulders that now blocked Annabeth from returning to the telekhines’ lair. She bashed her fists against the rock, trying in vain to move them.   
“No...no. Please...Percy!” She sank to the floor and collapsed, unconscious. 

"STOP!" Annabeth screamed.  
The demigods were now standing in a beautiful hall. The ceiling was higher than any normal building and the edges were lined with gold. There was rubble all around, Greek pillars ruined and toppled over. Firelight illuminated the scene as if the world was bathed in sunset light. Jason saw Luke and Percy fighting, Grover - the satyr - unconscious near one of the twelve thrones. Luke, however, wasn't what he looked like before. He was wearing sinister-looking black armour, his eyes glowing golden. Percy was wearing his own bronze armour, riptide out and parrying Luke’s strike. But something was wrong. Percy’s strikes were slow and unsteady, except his limbs were shaking from exhortation. It seemed as if something was slowing him down. Or someone. Jason felt his eyes comically grow twice the size when he realised who Percy was fighting.   
Annabeth limped towards the fighting duo, blood caking her shirt. Kronos whirled to face her and slashed with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth caught the strike on her dagger hilt. It was a move only the quickest and most skilled knife fighter could've managed. She stepped in closer for leverage, their blades crossed, and for a moment she stood face-to-face with the Titan lord, holding him at a standstill.   
"Luke," she said, gritting her teeth, "I understand now. You have to trust me."   
Kronos roared in outrage. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!"  
Percy tried to move, but his body seemed frozen. Kronos pushed against her, trying to dislodge his blade, but she held him in check, her arms trembling as he forced his sword down toward her neck.  
"Your mother," Annabeth grunted. "She saw your fate."   
"Service to Kronos!" the Titan roared. "This is my fate."   
"No!" Annabeth insisted. Her eyes were tearing up, but Jason didn't know if it was from sadness or pain. "That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy: she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"   
"I will crush you, child!" Kronos bellowed.   
"You won't," Annabeth said. "You promised. You're holding Kronos back even now."   
"LIES!" Kronos pushed again, and this time Annabeth lost her balance. With his free hand, Kronos struck her face, and she slid backwards. Percy managed to rise with great effort and tried to get towards the two. Kronos loomed over Annabeth, his sword raised. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.   
She croaked, "Family, Luke. You promised."   
Grover and Percy were both back on their feet, Grover over by the throne of Hera, but he seemed to be struggling to move as well. Before either of them could get anywhere close to Annabeth, Kronos staggered.   
He stared at the knife in Annabeth's hand, the blood on her face. "Promise."   
Then he gasped like he couldn't get air. "Annabeth . . ." But it wasn't the Titan's voice. It was Luke's. He stumbled forward like he couldn't control his own body. His eyes turned blue. "You're bleeding. . . ."   
"My knife." Annabeth tried to raise her dagger, but it clattered out of her hand. Her arm was bent at a funny angle. She looked at Percy, imploring, "Percy, please . . ." He could move again.   
He surged forward and scooped up her knife. He knocked Backbiter out of Luke's hand, and it spun into the hearth. Luke hardly paid him any attention. He stepped toward Annabeth, but Percy put himself between him and her.   
"Don't touch her," Percy said.   
Anger rippled across his face. Kronos's voice growled: "Jackson . . .” Kronos's body seemed to be burning a bright gold, flecks of light reflecting on the white walls of Olympus.   
He gasped again. Luke's voice: "He's changing. Help. He's . . . he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please—"   
"NO!" Kronos bellowed. He looked around for his sword, but it was in the hearth, glowing among the coals. He stumbled toward it. Percy tried to stop him, but he pushed him out of the way with such force he landed next to Annabeth and cracked his head on the base of a grey throne.   
"The knife, Percy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero . . . cursed blade . . ."   
Jason watched as the Titan picked up the glowing hot sword from the flames, the metal glowing with heat. He bellowed in pain and dropped it. His hands were smoking and seared. The hearth fire had grown red-hot like the scythe wasn't compatible with it. Jason saw an image of Hestia flickering in the ashes, frowning at Kronos with disapproval.  
Luke turned and collapsed, clutching his ruined hands. "Please, Percy . . ." Percy struggled to his feet. He moved toward him with the knife.  
Luke moistened his lips. "You can't . . . can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can . . . can keep him controlled."   
He was glowing more and more, his skin starting to smoke. Percy raised the knife to strike but then froze. Then he looked at Annabeth, at Grover cradling her in his arms, trying to shield her.   
"Please," Luke groaned. "No time."   
Percy gave the knife to Luke. Grover yelped.   
"Percy? Are you . . . um . . ."   
Jason watched as Luke grasped the hilt. Percy stood before him—defenceless. He unlatched the side straps of his armour, exposing a small bit of his skin just under his left arm, a place that would be very hard to hit. With difficulty, he stabbed himself. It wasn't a deep cut, but Luke howled. His eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook, throwing Percy off his feet. An aura of energy surrounded Luke, growing brighter and brighter. The three shut their eyes and Jason felt a force like a nuclear explosion erupt. In this form, Jason didn’t feel a thing but he watched as the walls blackened slightly and the three demigods’ skin blister. It was silent for a long time.   
Jason averted his attention from Annabeth, Percy and Grover to Luke sprawled at the hearth. On the floor around him was a blackened circle of ash. Kronos's scythe had liquefied into molten metal and was trickling into the coals of the hearth, which now glowed like a blacksmith's furnace. Luke's left side was bloody.   
His eyes were open—blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle.   
"Good . . . blade," he croaked. Percy knelt next to him. Annabeth limped over with Grover's support. They both had tears in their eyes. Luke gazed at Annabeth. "You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew . . ." "Shhh." Her voice trembled. "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."   
He shook his head weakly. "Think . . . rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest."   
Annabeth sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard."   
He held up his charred hand. Annabeth touched his fingertips. "Did you . . ." Luke coughed and his lips glistened red. "Did you love me?"   
Annabeth wiped her tears away. "There was a time I thought . . . well, I thought . . ."   
Her eyes darted to Percy before quickly returning to Luke. "You were like a brother to me, Luke," she said softly. "But I didn't love you."   
He nodded as if he'd expected it. He winced in pain.   
"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can—"   
"Grover," Luke gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing. . . ."   
Another cough. He gripped Percy’s sleeve. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it . . . Don't let it happen again."   
His eyes were angry, but pleading too. "I won't," Percy said. "I promise."   
Luke nodded, and his hand went slack. Annabeth draped her body over his and wept. Grover buried his face in his hands as Percy lowered his head, shutting his eyes. 

Jason wanted to cough. He and the rest of the seven were now standing in the middle of, well, Tartarus. Jason felt as if his lungs were slowly filling with water, except instead of the coolness that came with it, the water was spicy and hot. Inflating them felt like pushing up a lead weight on his chest. He remembered what Annabeth said and calmed himself down, taking long and slow breaths. Once he felt at least slightly used to the air, he looked up and felt his stomach drop.   
The landscape was dark and desolate, with fiery volcanoes and chasms in the distance. Behind Jason was a cliff that seemed to fall forever. I wonder what’s deeper than Tartarus, Jason thought. Above him, red clouds hung like a thick blanket of blood. Jason moved his attention to the three fighting. There was a woman who was flinging herself at Percy and Annabeth. Only not Percy and Annabeth. Annabeth’s skin was sallow, her eye sockets dark and sunken. Her hair had dried into a skein of cobwebs. She looked like she’d been stuck in a cool, dark mausoleum for decades, slowly withering into a desiccated husk. Her body was covered in some sort of mist, blurring as she moved. Percy himself looked like a walking corpse, looking every bit as bad as Annabeth. The woman they were fighting, although she seemed more like a ghoul, was despicable. She wore rags for clothes, her skin on her face cut up and bloody. She looked like she could drop dead any second with her unnaturally skinny limbs, swollen fingers and knees and broken talons. Out of her mouth were sharp yellow fangs that snapped at the two demigods who were desperately trying to fight back.   
Annabeth dived straight between the goddess’s legs and somersaulted to her feet. The goddess turned and attacked, but Annabeth dodged again. Percy looked like he was desperately trying to come up with a plan while Annabeth was doing all she could to stop and avoid the Goddess’s attacks. On Akhlys’s third lunge, Annabeth wasn’t so lucky. She tried to veer aside, but the goddess grabbed Annabeth’s wrist and pulled her hard, sending her sprawling. Before the goddess could pounce, Percy advanced, yelling and waving his sword.   
“Hey, Happy!” he yelled. The woman spun, dropping Annabeth’s arm.   
“Happy?” she demanded.   
“Yeah!” He ducked as she swiped at his head. “You’re downright cheerful!”   
“Arggh!” She struck again, but she was off-balance. Percy sidestepped and backed away, leading the goddess further from Annabeth.   
“Pleasant!” he called. “Delightful!”   
The goddess snarled and winced. She stumbled after Percy. Each compliment seemed to hit her like sand in the face.   
“I will kill you slowly!” she growled, her eyes and nose watering, blood dripping from her cheeks. “I will cut you into pieces as a sacrifice to Night!” Annabeth struggled to her feet. She started rifling through her pack, no doubt looking for something that might help.   
“Cuddly!” Percy yelled. “Fuzzy, warm and huggable!”  
Akhlys made a growling, choking noise, like a cat having a seizure. “A slow death!” she screamed. “A death from a thousand poisons!”  
All around her, poisonous plants sprung out of the ground. Glowing petals and thick mist obstructing Jason’s view of the dark floor. Green-and-white sap trickled out, collecting into pools, and began flowing across the ground towards Percy.   
Jason plugged his nose to not smell the fumes.   
“Percy!” Annabeth’s voice yelled. “Uh, hey, Miss Wonderful! Cheerful! Grins! Over here!”   
But the goddess of misery was now fixated on Percy. He tried to retreat again. Unfortunately, the poison ichor was flowing all around him now, making the ground steam and the air burn. Percy was stuck on an island of dust not much bigger than a shield. A few yards away, his backpack smoked and dissolved into a puddle of goo. Percy fell to one knee.   
“You will feed the eternal darkness,” the Goddess said. “You will die in the arms of Night!”  
Jason saw a distressed Annabeth reach into her backpack and throw strips of meat at the woman. The white-green poison kept pooling, little streams trickling from the plants as the venomous lake around Percy got wider and wider. Surprisingly Percy croaked out a laugh. It caught Jason off guard. Percy glared at the poison flood encroaching from all sides and furrowed his eyebrows.  
The poison tide stopped. The fumes blew away from him – back towards the goddess. The lake of poison rolled towards her in tiny waves and rivulets. The woman shrieked.   
“What is this?”   
“Poison,” Percy grinned. “That’s your speciality, right?”   
He stood, his arms shaking and his face convulsing into a mask of anger. As the flood of venom rolled towards the goddess, the fumes began to make her cough. Her eyes watered even more. Jason watched in horror as the tears and snot rolled back into her nose. Akhlys gagged.   
“I –” The tide of venom reached her feet, sizzling like droplets on a hot iron. She wailed and stumbled back.   
“Percy!” Annabeth called. She’d retreated to the edge of the cliff, even though the poison wasn’t after her. She sounded terrified. “Stop …” she pleaded, her voice hoarse. “Percy, please …” Annabeth’s face was still pale and corpse-like, but her eyes were the same as always.  
Percy turned to the goddess. He made the poison to recede, creating a small path of retreat along the edge of the cliff. “Leave!” he bellowed. For an emaciated ghoul, Akhlys could run pretty fast when she wanted to. She scrambled along the path, fell on her face and got up again, wailing as she sped into the dark. As soon as she was gone, the pools of poison evaporated. The plants withered to dust and blew away. Annabeth stumbled towards Percy.   
“Percy, please don’t ever …” She sobbed. “Some things aren’t meant to be controlled. Please.”  
Percy clenched his fists then loosened them, his back slouching. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, okay.”

Jason was transported back into the cave and was met with silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a kudos and comment!!!
> 
> xxx


	12. Percy XII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last one!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. I just got back to school and I started my GCSEs so everythings a bit crazy at the moment. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know how to write this chapter. I’d already put it off for a long time so I guess it excuses the short chapter (sort of). I didn’t want to write Percy’s memories yet because I want to make it more climatic. Then...who knows?
> 
> DISCLAIMER: There is some heavy stuff in here like abuse and swearing. So be warned!!
> 
> Please leave a kudos and comment!! xxx

Percy POV: Chapter 12

Oh.

Oh, no. 

Percy cleared his throat. It filled the silence. He didn’t want to grind his teeth because then they would all know that he was angry. They would all be scared. Not unlike now. He saw the...last memory and he didn’t like how indecisive he looked when he stopped. He didn’t like how he didn’t react at first when Annabeth screamed for him to stop. He didn’t like how in nearly all of her memories, it was he who got them into that mess.   
“Damn, now I know not to get on your nerves!” Leo exclaimed.   
More silence. It almost made Percy cringe except he had the self-control to hold his expression still. It seems Leo did not.   
“Too soon?”  
Hazel winced, “just a bit. Annabeth, you...you’re okay.”  
Percy watched Annabeth’s back snap straighter. He recognised her poker face, something he was so used to before they started dating. Usually, Percy admired her determination - against Chiron, Clarisse and even Thalia - but he couldn’t focus properly when she wasn’t looking at him. Percy wasn’t sure whether it was his ADHD or how everyone kept glances uneasy glances his way that made him fidget relentlessly. Percy felt his insides dying slowly the longer Annabeth refused his gaze. Staring had become their only form of communication. It was a contest of sorts and winning came at a price, it made him feel safe. He felt anything but safe. In the toxicity of the moment, Percy may have accidentally clenched his fist a couple of times, not helping the stares burning into him. He was worried. Worried that the fire that lights within him needs no more than a spark to set it ablaze. He remembered after...the mix up with Akhlys the fire burnt him out so badly there was nothing left but a shell, an outline of a person.   
Annabeth blinked her glossy eyes a couple of times, in the process hitting Percy right in the heart, before replying with no trace of a waver in her voice. “Perfectly, fine.” She looked right at Percy, perhaps trying to calm his jittery nerves or maybe as an act of civility. Percy wasn’t 100% sure. “You’re up next.”

Percy couldn’t open his mouth to reply. 

“Percy?”   
His mouth was filled with sand as he desperately tried to spit out his words. 

The seven observed the Son of Poseidon with the gazes of strangers, that aloof judgement with no strings. Percy hated this. Hated them. Percy really didn’t want to think ill of them, but with their curiosity pulsing through their gazes instead of any goddamn sympathy. 

Stop. 

Just stop. 

“Um, yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” He paused, “I guess it's my turn.” He put on a fake smile to hide how much he hurt. No matter how much it’s your fault, Percy thought.   
“Do you want to go first?” Jason offered.   
Instead of lowering his head and avoiding his gaze, he lifted it, a stony glare carved into his eyes. He tried to soften it. He   
Jason backtracked instantaneously. “I’ll go first.” 

Percy lowered his head again and shuffled his feet in the dirt, feeling the rest of the seven leave one by one into the glowing green door. Before Annabeth could leave he grabbed her softly, wrapping his slender fingers around her wrist. Usually, he hated “man-handling” her, probably because she would beat him up but this didn’t strike him as a moment where she would jokingly judo flip him. 

Her skin was too cold. 

Percy stepped forward, “Wise Girl, can I talk to you?”  
“I-I’m not sure I want to.”  
“Annabeth.”  
“Let’s - please - just wait till later. We can do this right?”  
He sighed, blowing air through his nose. Let it go. “We need to talk about this!”  
“We will! Just...just not now.”  
“Wise Girl. This won’t just go away, trust me I want it to. But---”  
Annabeth wrenched her arm away from him. “Quit it! We’ll talk about it later!”  
Percy knew that when tension is high he should inject love instead of anger, give her an olive branch instead of confrontation. Percy knew this and allowed himself to drain the fight, once again putting a bandage on a crack in a wall.   
Instead of lacing their fingers and walking to meet the group together, Annabeth turned first. He followed behind her, literally breathing in her dust. Hazel, Leo, Jason, Frank and Piper each wore their own expression of nonchalance, scattered around the plate in the middle of the room; twiddling thumbs and scratching the back of necks. Percy felt painfully out of place, like a fish out of water; slowly losing his ability to breath. Percy pursed his lips. He tried to have at least some semblance of control as he marched to the plate, instead he was as graceful as a sledgehammer in a knife fight, but he got the job done. Percy, albeit warily, pushed down on the plate and none of the seven were particularly unfamiliar with the mist that came after. 

Percy felt sick. Percy was standing in the middle of a dump of an apartment. He recognised the apartment from the peeling wallpaper to the piles of beer bottles in the corners. The house looked dead, truly falling apart. The window was covered in dust. Dirty clothes ranging from socks and underwear to stained shirts and greasy vests were strewn all over the foldable table that stood in the middle of the room. There were visible crumbs all over the decaying wooden floors and dirty dishes with colourful mixtures dried on the outside piling up in the small sink. There were smudges on the windows and mirrors. Dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, pristine dust layer, and papers piled up on the kitchen’s granite countertop. The only source of light came from the blaring TV in the corner and a simple yellow lamp resting near the desolate entrance, bathing the scene in a dim and hazy light. Pushed in a corner was a green top poker table, the white markings of the game seemed so out of place from the rest of the dingy apartment. On top lay half-eaten bags of chips and piles of poker chips - blue, green, red, black and white. Percy at least thought they could escape the smell of cigarette smoke in the simulation but it seems Epiales was content to make this as bad as possible. His nose and eyes stung from the smoke that hung in the air, unable to filter out from the lack of ventilation. The smell was like a toothache in his brain. Percy caught sight of the dead plants his mother had always tried to grow on the window sill. The cigarette smoke always killed them before they even had a chance to live, he remembered.   
Nearing the darkened corridor, where three doors stood still and monotonous, was a hideous red couch. There was nothing fashionable about it. The red of the sofa may have once been a vibrant cherry but now it was a dirty merlot. It was almost buried in beer and rubbish.   
It was wishful thinking on Percy’s part to think that they could avoid this. Him.   
Partially obscured from all the junk was Gabe Ugliano. He was nestled in his usual place on the couch, his layers of fat almost practically filling the entire four-person seating, clutching a bottle of beer, glued to the box, eyes almost turning square, sat entranced in a sea of stray popcorn, gormless expression, blank staring face, engrossed, transfixed. The volume was turned up so loud the windows were practically vibrating as TLC crap played. The light reflected off his face and it was far from flattering; although it was impossible to make him look remotely decent. His face bulged out, as did his beady eyes, his chin covered in bright orange crumbs. His three hairs were flattened to his podgy scalp with enough gel to stick together a paper mache replica of the Statue of Liberty. His arms were thick with both hair and muscle, well enough to look like he could be someone up. Gabe wore a single white undershirt that had an array of grease patches strewn across the fabric, sweat dripping down his pockmarked forehead and staining his shirt under his armpits. Percy didn’t really know what the point of the shirt was though when it barely covered the bottom half of his swollen belly.  
Percy could feel eyes burning a hole through the back of his head.   
Despite the deafening shouting of the woman on screen, Percy’s ears pricked up when he heard keys jangling outside the front door. It seems Gabe did too as his head whipped around to face the opening door, his movement causing his skin to jiggle slightly. A comical image for someone so disgusting. The front door creaked open and in came himself, well, a much smaller, skinnier, and scrawny Percy. He watched as his younger self ducked his head down and shucked off his light blue jacket. As a city kid, Percy didn’t really bat an eye about him returning late despite the danger that riddled New York streets. Apparently, it wasn’t the same for the rest of the demigods who were standing next to him. Percy spared a second to see each of their faces ranging from surprise, disgust and sadness.   
A gruff voice startled both Percy and his younger self. “You got the cash?”  
It was a thick New York Italian accent that Percy himself sometimes slipped into from time to time. Percy quickly snapped back to attention when his younger self started talking.  
“Yeah, I got most of it.”  
Gabe raised a greasy eyebrow, “most of it?”  
“Um, Mrs Garcio refused to pay the, um, second half. Or maybe third.”  
Gabe stood up. The TV ominously painted his shadow across the apartment walls. He bared his teeth slightly, “you lyin’ to me, Brain Boy?”  
Mist Percy took a few steps back, “N-no. I’m telling the truth.”  
The man huffed out a breath through his nose, looking strikingly similar to a bull about to charge. “Gimme it all.” He stressed the “all”.   
Percy uneasily walked towards the walrus of a man and pulled out a small wad of cash; no more than twenty bucks. As soon as the boy plopped the money in Gabe’s outstretched hand, he stumbled back. Gabe flicked through the notes, a frown steadily growing on his repulsive face.   
“You know I hate liars.”  
“I’m not lying!”  
Young Percy clasped his hands over his mouth.   
“Don’t you shout at me, you brat!” He grabbed a fistful of Mist Percy’s shirt, the boy’s shoe tips only just brushing the floor. “I give you a roof over ya head and pay for your fucking schools and this is the thanks I get? You ungrateful piece of crap!”   
Gabe swiftly struck him across the cheek, a red outline forming instantly. An action that caused the little boy’s body to spin. If it weren’t for Gabe grabbing his neck with his fist, Percy would’ve crashed into a wall from the force of the hit. Instead of letting Mist Percy go after his knees were no longer buckled, Gabe tightened his fist and squeezed the poor kid’s neck.   
He shook his hand, throttling Percy, all while practically spitting, “You should’ve learned by now not to lie.”  
Gabe flung Percy to the ground. Percy saw his younger self was shaking almost violently as Gabe squatted down. He reached out his sausage fingers and entwined them into the mist version’s locks of hair. Quickly and powerfully, Gabe slammed Percy’s head into the floor. Mist Percy yelped.   
“You’re a wimp! Take it like a man.”  
Gabe pulled Percy up onto his feet before shoving him towards the corridor opposite the front door. Unfortunately, Mist Percy didn’t have the strength to properly walk away. He fell vehemently to the floor, tears streaming down his chubby face. Gabe sneered and kicked the boy in his chest with a mouldy sock-covered foot. Percy himself winced.   
“You’re lucky your mom’s coming back soon!” Gabe tucked his thumbs into his thick leather belt, flaunting a chunky metal buckle. “Now, get to bed.”  
Gabe’s footsteps shook the ground as he trudged back to his spot on the couch, a wounded Percy practically crawling past the kitchen and into his room. The sound of the door shutting was the only thing Percy could hear as they were transported away. 

Percy was now by the side of an asphalt road, trees looming overhead like reapers waiting for death. Rain rhythmically beating the dirt ground, lightning strikes illuminating the plain of forest and panicking figures. He saw a beat-up car upside down and completely destroyed, the roof was torn off entirely, hood all crumpled from hitting a tree, only one tire still intact. Percy saw himself, Grover and his mother limping towards the trees, away from the flaming car, the lightning and thunder lighting up their pale faces making them look like they were ghosts or at least, they saw one. Ripping through the carnage of the car was the minotaur. The years hadn’t been kind to the minotaur. Eyes as black as ebony seemed to almost glow red when he stalked towards the group. His body was frightfully muscley, taut and pulsing, fur coating his legs and neck, gradually getting thicker from the belly button up. He wore a white Fruit of the Looms to cover his lower half and his head was out of a horror movie. The bullhead bared its teeth and snarled. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at Percy’s chest.  
Percy was entranced as he watched his younger self hold his ground, and at the last moment, he jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but  
not toward Percy this time, toward his mother, who was setting Grover down in the long grass.  
They were slowly making their way up the crest of the hill. Percy averted his gaze and saw that down the other side of the valley, around half a mile away, he could see the comforting lights of the Big House. The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. Sally started retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.  
"Run, Percy!" she told Percy. "I can't go any farther. Run!"  
Percy seemed unable to move as he watched the monster run at full speed towards her. She tried to sidestep, as Young Percy had done, but his hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to getaway. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.  
"Mom!"  
She turned her neck painfully, her eyes narrowing with the effort, and managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"  
Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Sally's neck, and she dissolved before his eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form as if she were a holographic projection.   
"No!"  
Mist Percy’s knees started shaking as he started to cry, tears dripping down his face. The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling the satyr as if he were about to lift Grover and make him dissolve too. Percy stripped off his red rain jacket.  
"Hey!" he screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"  
The monster roared and turned menacingly toward the boy, shaking his meaty fists. He put his back to a big pine tree and waved his red jacket in front of the bull-man. The bull-man charged fast, his arms out to grab him whichever way he tried to dodge.  
His legs tensed. Percy watched and almost wanted to chuckle as young Percy leapt straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree, the tree’s branches shaking and scattering leaves across the damp ground. The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake Percy. Percy had locked his arms around his head, muscles coiled and purple to be kept from being thrown. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull.   
"Food!" Grover moaned.  
The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. Percy quickly got both hands around one horn and pulled backwards, tipping back until he was almost flat. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then something snapped. The bull-man screamed and flung him through the air. He landed flat on my back in the grass and his head smacked against a rock. When he sat up, dazed, he clutched a thick, black horn in his grabby hands. It was a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.  
The monster charged.  
Percy rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind. The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. Percy froze for only a moment before he managed to haul Grover up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse.   
“No...no.”  
He stumbled forward with Grover on his back.  
“Mom. You-you can’t leave me.”

The mist receded and a mist Percy and mist Luke sat on a large boulder by a stream. The woodland seemed too quiet. Looking up, there was a myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, rays of sunlight acting as spotlights of nature. Percy was struck at how weary Luke looked here. His eyes were dark with bags and yet his body language was ready for a fight, ready to fight him. The two drank their cokes and watched the sunlight in the woods.  
The silence was broken by Luke when he said, "You miss being on a quest?"  
"With monsters attacking me every three feet? Are you kidding?"  
Luke raised an eyebrow.  
"Yeah, I miss it," Percy admitted. "You?"  
"I've lived at Half-Blood Hill year-round since I was fourteen. Ever since Thalia ... well, you know. I trained, and trained, and trained. I never got to be a normal teenager, out there in the real world. Then they threw me one quest, and when I came back, it was like, 'Okay, ride's over. Have a nice life.'"  
He crumpled his Coke can and threw into the creek. Mist Percy didn’t even try to hide his shock as he stared at the coke floating in the water with big eyes.   
"The heck with laurel wreaths," Luke said. "I'm not going to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House attic."  
"You make it sound like you're leaving."  
Luke gave me a twisted smile. "Oh, I'm leaving, all right, Percy. I brought you down here to say goodbye."  
He snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at Percy’s feet. Out crawled a menacing scorpion, black as the night and stinger raised. Percy started to go for my pen.  
"I wouldn't," Luke cautioned. "Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."  
"Luke, what—" He paused, "You,"  
Luke stood calmly and brushed off his jeans. The scorpion paid him no attention. It kept its beady black eyes on Percy, clamping its pincers as it crawled onto his shoe.  
"I saw a lot out there in the world, Percy," Luke said. "Didn't you feel it—the darkness gathering, the monsters growing stronger? Didn't you realize how useless it all is? All the heroics—being pawns of the gods. They should've been overthrown thousands of years ago, but they've hung on, thanks to us half-bloods."  
Percy felt his stomach drop as he watched the two mist phantoms argue in the daylight, Luke slowly rising taller and taller, himself falling smaller and smaller. But what unnerved him the most was that Luke...made some good points. That was always the case but it only presented it so outright to Percy here.   
"You summoned the hellhound, that night in the forest."  
"We had to make Chiron think the camp wasn't safe for you, so he would start you on your quest. We had to confirm his fears that Hades was after you. And it worked."  
"The flying shoes were cursed," Percy said. "They were supposed to drag me and the backpack into Tartarus."  
"And they would have if you'd been wearing them. But you gave them to the satyr, which wasn't part of the plan. Grover messes up everything he touches. He even confused the curse."  
Luke looked down at the scorpion, which was now sitting on Percy’s skinny thigh. "You should have died in Tartarus, Percy. But don't worry, I'll leave you with my little friend to set things right."  
"Thalia gave her life to save you," he said, gritting my teeth. "And this is how you repay her?"  
"Don't speak of Thalia!" he shouted. "The gods let her die! That's one of the many things they will pay for."  
"You're being used, Luke. You and Ares both. Don't listen to Kronos."  
"I've been used?" Luke's voice turned shrill. "Look at yourself. What has your dad ever done for you? Kronos will rise. You've only delayed his plans. He will cast the Olympians into Tartarus and drive humanity back to their caves. All except the strongest—the ones who serve him."  
"Call off the bug. If you're so strong, fight me yourself"   
Luke smiled. "Nice try, Percy. But I'm not Ares. You can't bait me. My lord is waiting, and he's got plenty of quests for me to undertake."  
"Luke—"  
"Good-bye, Percy. There is a new Golden Age coming. You won't be part of it."  
He slashed his sword in an arc and disappeared in a ripple of darkness. The scorpion lunged. Percy swatted it away with his hand and uncapped his sword. The thing jumped at him and Percy, in turn, cut it in half in midair.  
Percy was swaying on his feet when he looked down at his hand. His palm had a huge red welt, oozing and smoking with yellow guck. He stumbled to the creek and submerged his hand, but nothing seemed to happen. Percy’s legs started to buckle, he could barely stand up.  
He stumbled toward the camp, and the nymphs stirred from their trees, their beautiful faces lit up in concern and horror.  
"Help," the boy croaked. "Please ..."

The seven were now standing in a winter wonderland. The wind was bitter cold, even with the camp's magical weather protection. Snow fell lightly against the marble steps. Icicles hung from roofs and table and benches were icy. Snow rests upon the benches as if it were a feather cushion, soft and warm. It covered the rich, deep wood in perfect white. Percy saw himself, this time slightly older, with a black-haired boy. Nico di Angelo and himself were standing silently in the dining pavilion, a tense silence filled the wintery air.   
“Are you going to speak?” Percy asked the boy, his cheeks flushed pink. He shook his arms out towards Nico. “Please, please talk to me.”  
More silence.   
“She wanted you to have this.” Percy brought out the little god figurine Bianca had found in the junkyard. Nico held it in his palm and stared at it.  
“You promised you would protect her,” Nico said.  
Percy wiped at his tears forming in his eyes and tucked in his hands into his jacket pockets.   
“Nico,” he said. “I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to. But she—”  
“You promised!”  
He glared at me, his eyes rimmed with red. He was already starting to look like the Nico di Angelo they all knew today, not a comforting thought. He closed his small fist around the god statue.  
“I shouldn't have trusted you.” His voice broke. “You lied to me. My nightmares were right!”  
“Wait. What nightmares?”  
He flung the god statue to the ground. It clattered across the icy marble. “I hate you!”  
“She might be alive,” Percy said desperately. “I don't know for sure—”  
“She's dead.” He closed his eyes. His whole body trembled with rage. “I should've known it earlier. She's in the Fields of Asphodel, standing before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it.”  
“What do you mean, you can feel it?”  
Before he could answer, Percy heard a new sound behind the two. A hissing, clattering noise Percy recognized all too well.  
Percy drew his sword and Nico gasped. Mist Percy whirled and found myself facing four skeleton warriors. They grinned fleshless grins and advanced with swords drawn.   
“You're trying to kill me!” Nico screamed. “You brought these... these things?”  
“No! I mean, yes, they followed me, but no! Nico, run. They can't be destroyed.”  
“I don't trust you!”  
The first skeleton charged. Percy knocked aside its blade, but the other three kept coming. He sliced one in half, but immediately it began to knit back together. He knocked another's head off but it just kept fighting.  
“Run, Nico!” Percy yelled. “Get help!”  
“No!” He pressed his hands to his ears.  
Percy slashed, whirled, blocked, jabbed, but they just kept advancing as Nico stood there, his eyes clamped shut and tears streaming down his face.  
“No!” Nico shouted louder. “Go away!”  
The ground rumbled beneath him. The skeletons froze. Percy rolled out of the way just as a crack opened at the feet of the four warriors. The ground ripped apart like a snapping mouth. Flames erupted from the fissure, and the earth swallowed the skeletons in one loud crack. In the place where the skeletons had stood, a twenty-foot-long scar wove across the marble floor of the pavilion. Otherwise, there was no sign of the warriors.   
Awestruck, Percy looked to Nico. “How did you—”  
“Go away!” he yelled. “I hate you! I wish you were dead!”  
The ground didn't swallow him up, but Nico ran down the steps, heading toward the woods. Percy reached out an arm, time seeming to slow down as the scene changed. 

Blue skies and miles of glistening, open water-filled Percy’s vision as the newest scene began. If these weren’t Percy’s memories, he’d think it was a bit strange something out of a travelling blog would be a worst memory. The seven were standing on a cruise ship-turned battleship, deck bustling with monsters. Among the monsters was Luke--no, Kronos, at this point, looming over a younger Percy.   
Kronos clapped his hands, and two blue giants lumbered forward, dragging Charles Beckendorf between them. Percy’s heart almost stopped. Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armour was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.   
"No!" Mist Percy yelled.   
Beckendorf met his eyes. He glanced at his hand like he was trying to tell him something. His watch.   
"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"   
"Soon." Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"   
A boy walked towards the duo the monsters were crowding around. It was as silent as any normal morning and the sun was barely higher than the ship’s mast. Ethan Nakamura, infamous eye patch and a daunting sword strapped at his hip, seemed as bitter as always. Ethan wasn’t much bigger than the average sixteen-year-old, but there is no doubting his years.  
"He was going toward the engine room, my lord."   
"How do you know that?"   
"Er . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives."   
Kronos hesitated. Mist Percy’s eyes shut painfully as he tried to get up from his knees. He was clutching his arm painfully, rivers of blood flowing down and staining his shirt.   
"Open his bag," Kronos ordered. One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf's shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backwards. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.   
"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"   
Ethan turned pale. "Um—"   
"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually check the engine room?"   
Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran. Percy mouthed curses silently. He caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long? He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero.   
Kronos turned toward Percy with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks."  
He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm—the Titan lord's symbol.   
Percy shut his eyes again, muttering, "Communication device . . . spy at camp."   
Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."   
Percy swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck as he animatedly mouthed one word: Go. Percy shook my head, matted black hair flopping around in the ocean breeze.   
The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly—toward the watch on his right wrist. Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed, "What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?"   
Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch. Percy at once threw his sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. Percy pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship—toward the water a hundred feet below.   
A spear sailed past his ear as he fell down. An arrow pierced his thigh and he gripped the head tight as he landed with a splash. Zooming out —a hundred yards, two hundred yards. The seven stayed put on the deck; not following Percy. The floorboards, almost like it was in slow motion, were ripped apart by the raging green fire. Windows shattered, wood blackening, monsters disintegrating—and in the middle of it all, Beckendorf being consumed by the flames. 

Percy wanted to die himself, he shouldn’t be seeing this. He didn’t see this. This shouldn’t be a part of his memory. He didn’t want to see one of his closest friend’s body being ripped apart from the fire, skin ebonizing further and ear-splitting screams ringing in his ears. 

Percy didn’t want to see himself in the new memory. The darkness of the woods was familiar at this point. Sonoma Valley woods were bathed in shadows as delicate snowflakes fell from the sky. Percy gazed around the ruins, trees trapping them in like a venus fly trap. In the array of frozen blooms, where the air bit at Percy’s lungs; breath getting shallower, the snow fell silently. The snow became so thick that the trees appeared as the confetti as if they were the flakes that danced. Each blade of grass, each leaf, each stone was carefully covered in thick ice, trapped in time. Percy’s eyes fell on the slumbering body of a man. Well, less of a man. It was Percy. His hair more shaggy, chin dark with light stubble and his face was grubby with dirt, but it was still him. There was a ring around him that didn’t touch his sleeping form.   
A chocolate red wolf stepped forward, strands of grey mixed in with its fur. Out of the trees, smaller, weaker, wolves stepped forward, bearing their teeth and snarling dangerously. With a quick glance back from the alpha, the pack quietened as it approached Mist Percy.   
“It is time.” It echoed across the plain, chilling the air further. “Wake.”  
His green eyes snapped open, muscles tensing and clenching as he woke. Percy watched as his mist version glanced up at the wolf pack and got shakily to his feet.   
Percy swung his arms out, a deadly arch. “Stay back.”  
The alpha didn’t stop getting closer. The wolves started up their growling again.  
Percy shuffled backwards nervously before planting his feet and shouting once more, louder this time, “Stay back. I’m warning you.”  
“Perseus Jackson.”  
Percy froze. He stared straight at the wolf and cleared his throat. “That’s my name. Isn’t it.”  
The wolves stalked forward.   
“Yes.”  
“Perseus Jackson.” Mist Percy rolled the words over in his mouth, glancing away for a moment. “Where am I?”  
The wolves laughed. It was a weird, gravelly sound, sounding deep from their stomachs. Percy moved his attention from the alpha to the dozens of wolves now surrounding him. He stuck his hands out and shut his eyes tightly. He yelled from his gut and the snow froze in the air, under Percy’s control. He twirled his finger around, a swirling storm of screaming silver billowed and spun. The white cleared and Percy stood apart from the wolves, shards of ice and snow threateningly pointing at the wolves, ready to spear them through at the sight of attack. Already, the shards were shaking and sweat pooled on Percy’s forehead.   
“Where am I?”  
The alpha wolf suddenly transformed into an elegant woman. Her hair blossomed like tulips in May in beautiful red ringlets. Her face was milky and timeless; a face of a goddess. The wolf skin dress draped across her athletic body was donned with ancient Roman armour, etching of myths on the chest plate. Two children drinking the milk from the teats of a fearsome wolf. Her lips were bright red, the colour bleeding across her pale skin. She raised a pristine hand and the wolves sat, hinds loudly hitting the snowy floor, before letting an icicle pierce the skin of her finger. She gazed at the oozing blood, face stony yet somehow amused.   
The icicles moved outwards shakily, almost beating in the rhythm of a heart.   
“I won’t ask again. Where. Am. I.”  
Lupa’s lip curled, smirking nastily, “alone.”

Percy’s heartbeat tripled in speed. Tartarus was every bit as sour in his memories than in real life. Floors black with glass, purple veins running across a plateau of horror as Mist Percy, Annabeth and Bob were surrounded by demons. Their faces were shrivelled and seemed to decay off their bones, wax models come to life. Shrieking with mirth as they watched Percy in vain try to protect the group with his measly looking sword.   
"Back off." Percy jabbed Riptide at the nearest shrivelled hag, but she only sneered.   
We are the arai, said one, or maybe it was the other like the entire forest was speaking. You cannot destroy us.   
Annabeth pressed against Percy’s shoulder.   
"Don’t touch them," she warned. "They’re the spirits of curses."   
"Bob doesn’t like curses," Bob decided. Percy's heart clenched when he saw the lovable Titan.   
The Titan swept his broom in a wide arc, forcing the spirits back, but they came in again like the tide.   
We serve the bitter and the defeated, said the arai. We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you.   
"I appreciate the offer," he said. "But my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers."   
The nearest demon lunged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Percy cut her in two but he stumbled back, clamping his hand to his rib cage. His fingers came away wet and red. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were sticky with blood as if a javelin had run him through.  
"Percy, you’re bleeding!" Annabeth cried, eyes enlarging and turning reflective with tears. "Oh, gods, on both sides."   
"Geryon," Percy said. "This is how I killed him …"   
The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leapt from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings.  
Yes, they agreed. Feel the pain you inflicted upon Geryon. So many curses have been levelled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart!   
Somehow he stayed on his feet. The blood stopped spreading, but his face was clenched painfully.   
His sword arm was heavy and weak.   
"I don’t understand," he muttered.   
Bob replied, his arm coming out to stabilize him, "If you kill one, it gives you a curse."   
"But if we don’t kill them …" Annabeth said.   
"They’ll kill us anyway," Percy guessed.   
Choose! The arai cried. Will you be crushed like Kampê? Or disintegrated like the young telkhines you slaughtered under Mount St Helens? You have spread so much death and suffering, Percy Jackson. Let us repay you!   
The winged hags pressed in, their breath sour, their eyes burning with hatred. One of the demons lunged at Annabeth. Instinctively, she dodged. She brought her rock down on the old lady’s head and broke her into dust.   
Instantly Annabeth dropped her rock and cried in alarm. "I can’t see!"   
She touched her face, looking around wildly. Her eyes were pure white. Percy ran to her side as the arai cackled.   
Polyphemus cursed you when you tricked him with your invisibility in the Sea of Monsters. You called yourself Nobody. He could not see you. Now you will not see your attackers.   
"I’ve got you," Percy promised.   
He put his arm around Annabeth, but as the arai advanced he looked around wildly.   
The seven watched the scene unfold: Bob leaving, the pair escaping through the trees, nearly falling off a cliff. Everything.

But the arai just kept coming.   
For every one Percy cut down as he and Annabeth left, six more seemed to appear. At the cliff, Percy was limping badly and tried to make his way towards Annabeth, but she was just out of reach, calling his name as she wandered among the demons. As Percy blundered towards her, a demon pounced and sank its teeth into his thigh. Percy roared. He sliced the demon to dust but immediately fell to his knees. He doubled over, shuddering and retching.   
You have chosen, said the voice of the arai, the curse of Phineas … an excellent painful death. 

Percy heard Hazel gasp behind him. 

Percy reared back and clutched his sword. His knuckles started to steam. White smoke curled off his forearms. The arai clustered around him, snickering and hissing.   
His head will erupt first, the voice speculated.   
No, the voice answered itself from another direction. He will combust all at once.   
They were placing bets on how he would die … what sort of scorch mark he would leave on the ground.   
"Bob,” he croaked. "I need you."   
A hopeless plea.   
Percy raised his raw eyes one last time. The sky boiled and the ground blistered.   
You see the horror of the pit? the arai said soothingly. Give up, Percy Jackson. Isn’t death better than enduring this place?   
"I’m sorry," Percy murmured.   
He apologizes! The arai shrieked with delight. He regrets his failed life, his crimes against the children of Tartarus!   
"No," Percy said. "I’m sorry, Bob. I should’ve been honest with you. Please … forgive me. Protect Annabeth. Save her." 

Before the seven spectators left, they saw the hopeless Percy collapse to the floor. 

Fresh air rushed into his lungs as he was once again standing in the dirt cave. A metallic taste stayed in his mouth, however. He looked down. 

He, once again, felt their fucking eyes on him. 

At that moment, Percy was blinded by a five-course serving of rage that tasted bitter (or was it the blood?)  
Annabeth spun toward him, anger in her eyes. “What the Hades was that Percy?”  
“I’m sorry?”


	13. Hazel XIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a bunch of fighting to be perfectly honest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I’m sorry this took so long. I think from now on I’m going to change my updates from 1 a week to 2 because I’m finding it challenging to keep up. Although, there’s only like three more chapters to go so it doesn’t really matter. Thank you for all your support and don’t hate on Annabeth too much lmao. 
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudos! xxx

Hazel POV: 

“I’m sorry?”

Hazel could hear water dripping somewhere in the cave, the echoes filling the silence of the group. Annabeth’s silver eyes were aflame as she watched Percy. 

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Poor Percy. 

Why does this always have to happen? Maybe Hazel wasn’t as experienced as all of the other demigods but she knew this wasn’t normal. The tense silences, the anger, the fights. 

Hazel could see everyone, including herself, avoiding the Son of Poseidon and Daughter of Athena who were standing off much like those old cowboy films that Leo showed her. Annabeth’s eyes stood out dramatically against the dull walls whilst Percy’s were red and pained. He seemed drained of all energy.   
“Why didn’t you tell me? Tell me any of this.”  
Percy laughed. Actually, maybe it wasn’t a laugh. It was more of a cry as Hazel watched Percy avoid her gaze. It made Hazel’s spin shiver and twitch. There was something in that shout, a pain behind it. Hazel watched. She watched Percy’s eyes. Then she knew. The anger was nothing but a shield for pain, like a cornered soldier randomly throwing out grenades, scared for his life, lonely, desperate. He breathed in real slow.   
“You’re acting like a child.”  
“I’m acting like a child?”  
“Yes! I don’t understand why you’re like this!”  
“I’m angry that you didn’t tell me! I thought we were a team!”  
“We’re not the same person, Beth! I don’t have to tell you everything about my shitty life.”  
Annabeth took a threatening step forward, her teeth bared, “Don’t. Call. Me. “Beth”.”  
Percy ran a hand through his hair. “Is that really the most important thing at the moment?”  
“For Gods’ sake, Percy!”  
Percy threw his arms down, eyes aflame. Hazel was struck by how similar he looked to Mars. True, they weren’t father and son but back in Camp Jupiter Mars captured everyone’s attention with a flick of his hand and his burning red gaze. Percy held everyone’s attention now too. Hazel felt like an undertaker watching a man being swallowed by a shark.  
Annabeth clasped Percy's limp hand in hers, leaning forward precariously. “Why didn’t you tell me about Gabe? Or the Arai. Or any of the other moments when I could’ve helped you.”   
“I don’t need to be babied. And I certainly don’t have to be reminded of him.”  
Hazel held onto Percy’s arm. She needed to help in some way. Piper did the same with Annabeth, only pulling her back slightly. “Let’s just cool down.”  
Annabeth quickly shook Piper off. “Get off me.” She turned to the group, each speechless, “You all need to butt out.”  
“We’re your friends.” Leo pointed out.   
Annabeth chuckled, “We’re not friends. We’re simply people forced on a quest together. These memories have only made me realise how little I know all of you.”  
“Annabeth!” Percy cried.   
“Gods! It was only a matter of time.”  
Jason, looking more than hurt, stepped forward, “then tell the truth then. Why are you getting so upset?”  
“This isn’t about me!”  
“Bullshit!”  
“Percy, you stay out of this!”  
“Why? You were literally shouting at me five seconds ago!”  
Hazel wanted to cry. Or scream. Either works really. She wanted to shout, have a tantrum and beat her hands on the ground like a toddler. She wanted to vent, let it out, but she knew not to add to the anger, she didn’t want to say words she didn’t mean, or be hurtful.  
“Please, guys, just calm down!”  
“Oh my gods, Piper. If you use charmspeak one more time I’m going to lose it.” Percy yelled.  
“I--I didn’t---”  
“Liar.”  
Piper pulled back on Annabeth’s arm. “Well, if we’re not friends then there's no sugar coating. Percy, tell the truth. How did you find those pit monsters without your sight? No tricks, no half-truths. Time to show me, the “liar”, how to tell the truth.”  
He shut his eyes and shook his head. His expression was twitching. Hazel wanted to go up and hug him but something was stopping her.   
Hazel stepped forward. Call her selfish but she wanted to know without forcing him with charmspeak.   
“Percy, please. Answer the question.”  
“I think all of you already know the answer. Or are hoping that what I say is what you think.”  
Annabeth slammed her foot against the floor, “Answer the question!”   
He didn’t reply.   
“Answer her!” Annabeth roared, a vein bulging on her forehead.   
“Blood! I did it with blood, okay?” He breathed. “I could sense it and so why not--why not use it?”  
Annabeth yelped and clenched her fist, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You said you wouldn’t do it again! You promised! You--you broke your promise!”  
“Does it matter? We needed to stop them and so I did. For all I know, we all would be dead if I didn’t use my powers!”  
“Blood? Of course this matters!”  
“It’s not even that bad!” Percy looked maniacal in the limited light of the room, his skin looking paler than usual. “I didn’t manipulate it if that’s what you’re thinking.”  
“That’s not the point!”  
“Then what is the point?!”  
“The point is all you bring is lies. You lied to me. You said--you said...”  
Hazel’s stomach sunk. Annabeth’s cheeks were streaked with dirty tear tracks, her nostrils were flared and her lip was curled. Hazel felt as if lead were coursing through her mind instead of blood. She would be lying if she said her memories of the smiley, friendly Percy were tainted; tarred, disfigured into something more grotesque. She kept her gaze off him, she couldn't bear to look his way, because if they made eye contact she thought she might vomit. She didn’t want to believe it. But maybe, just a small part of her could. Blood control? Maybe, Epiales had a point. That---that sometimes people can be more monster than demigod. 

Wait, what? 

Why is she thinking like this? This isn't her. This isn’t Percy. Or Annabeth. 

Leo put his fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. It was one of the rare moments where Hazel could see barely any humour in his expression. The last time when a certain pair fell into Tartarus. “Everyone stop! Gods, what is wrong with all of you?”  
His comment was so out of character, so far from what she knew of him, Hazel just stared at him open-mouthed. Leo wasn’t the voice of reason. Why was the entire world flipped on its head? Hazel’s brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that she was shocked. She closed her mouth, then looked at her toes before glancing back up to catch his eye.   
“Leo’s right. No matter how much stuff we said that we didn’t mean,” Jason cast a glare towards a weeping Annabeth. “We can figure this out later. Didn’t Epiales say he’d be here; at the end?” 

“Need me?”

“Epiales,” Frank growled out. He seemed almost relieved, though, for a distraction. “We’ve finished. We’re done. Care to let us go?”

Hazel cast a quick glance at Percy and Annabeth to make sure they weren't killing each other. She wasn’t sure if she was glad that they were facing away from each other. When Annabeth turned to face Epiales, there was no trace of tears, not in her eyes or in track marks on her reddening face. There was no evidence of any kind of vulnerability whatsoever. Annabeth, ever the queen of ice, had her arms crossed and lips pursed. Percy, on the other hand, could kill with the glare he was sending Epiales’ way. His eyes were narrowed, rigid, cold, hard. The god appeared in the centre of the room, his features glowing a godly shine. However, instead of the mischievousness that was apparent in the swirling depths of his eyes like last time, it was replaced with sombre nervousness. Epiales’ eyes were like those fish Hazel saw in her old New Orlean markets, glossy and dark, sunken just a little. His hair moved in the wind he brought with his arrival and his tunic billowed - the rest of him utterly still. This time, he wore a dark trench coat over his tunic, his pale hands dug into his pockets. Especially with this expression, he reminded Hazel of an older, healthier-looking Nico.   
“Gaia wasn’t happy with how long it took for you to find me.” He said, a bony finger pointing at Hazel.   
She felt her Adam's apple bob in her throat as she nervously swallowed.   
“Didn’t give us many directions.”  
He laughed. How could something sound so sinister yet lighthearted? “Right.” He turned his attention to the rest of the group who Hazel could feel were gathered behind her. “It’s good to see you all, even in your sleepless forms.”  
Hazel watched as Leo’s thick eyebrows pinched together. “Great. Can you--you know--reverse the curse now? The “NO SLEEP FOR YOU” curse. Yeah, that one?”  
Epiales’ eye twitched. It didn’t help Hazel’s nerves. She felt it was the right moment to pull her cavalry sword out of its sheath. She tried to do it as subtly as possible but the blade made a chink sound on the edge of the metal buckle, quickly gaining the assorted group's attention. Epiales’ most notably.   
“Oh don’t fret. I don’t have enough strength to fight you. Gaia made sure of that.”  
“Why would she stop you from fighting us?” Jason asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.  
Epiales snorted, “Oh, no-no. She didn’t stop me from fighting you. She was just a bit...angry it was taking too long. But no matter, I served my purpose. I gave her time for her weapons and she gave me fun. What more could I ask for?”  
Despite Epiales’ broad grin, it didn’t reach his eyes as he stretched his arms out; somewhat of a trademark pose for him. He visibly winced whenever he moved which made Hazel wonder what Gaia could have possibly done to bring such pain to a God.   
“You know, my aunt isn’t much of a kind Goddess but she knew when I deserved to be punished. I did in this case. And for you, my demigods, I apologise.”  
“What?” Jason laughed. “Your curse attacked us for however many nights--I can’t remember!--and when we’ve finally finished your stupid trap, you come and apologise! You have no dignity!”  
“Please, leave Aedos out of this.”   
“Aed--who? I don’t care.” Leo interrupted. “Just get rid of the curse and we’ll be on our way.”  
Epiales shook his head and smiled before lifting his hands. He held out his hands and a golden light filled the room. Pulsing from his fingertips was a strange, bright energy. Hazel watched in amazement the light flicker, changing colours from amber, to ruby, then back to gold. Epiales flicked a finger and streams of the light wrapped its way across the group, intertwining with strands of Hazel hair and weaving through her fingers and legs. She felt dizzy as it entered her ears and lit up behind her eyes. Maybe if she wasn’t so relieved to be rid of the spell she would be freaked out, but all she could do is bask in the soft warmth the rivulets of light emitted. All too soon, the light disappeared and the room was plunged back into the muted greys and browns of the dirt walls and floors.   
Epiales stepped back, pulling out white gloves from his pockets and putting them on. It surprised Hazel how likeable the God was compared to back on the Argo II. He gently smiled at Hazel as if reading her thoughts before speaking. “I truly am sorry, demigods. It’s just business.”  
Percy laughed, something cruel and mocking. “So is this.” 

Without a moment's hesitation, Percy threw his sword like a javelin straight into Epiales’ chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment and kudos! xxx

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Please don't forget to subscribe (wow I sound like a Youtuber). I will probably be updating every week or so, so please enjoy!
> 
> I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS - THEY ALL BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN AND HIS BOOKS.


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